A Blade Borne to Kill
by Jackie Avocado
Summary: He was smelted in the fires of evil, shaped by The First Hunter, molded by the eldritch truth, and quenched in an endless river of blood. He was still a sword, but he wasn't one that saved others. (WARNING: The story starts out serious, but this is basically a crack story. Semi-Crack with plot.)
1. Borne of Blood (Revised)

**Hey, guys! This is the edited fixed, not grammar nazi inducing - as much - version of chapter One, have fun!**

 **Chapter One: Borne of Blood**

The boy knew that, in his small, fragmented mind, he should be drowned in sorrow now. He lost everything, his home, his family, even his own name. But now, he couldn't be bothered to care. What he could care about was finding somewhere safe, somewhere where the heat wasn't as intense, somewhere to rest.

Even as he heard screams and cries for help from every direction, he walked. He knew he couldn't help them. He couldn't even find the drive to try.

Soon enough he came across a building that was surprisingly intact.

Luck was on his side it seemed. Of course one can only be so lucky in a city that's on fire.

He stumbled his way into the building, it was slightly cooler than outside, but not anywhere close enough to give any comfort. So, he continued on his way up the building, going to the roof.

Hot air rises, not that he knew that.

Once he reached the middle of the roof he collapsed, his breathing was heavy, he could barely move an inch, every breath hurt. Maybe because of how long he had been walking, maybe his injuries, or maybe the smoke that poured into his lungs with each and every breath.

He didn't know, nor did he care. He just wanted to rest. His skin might get a bit burnt but at least he was safe.

He wasn't sure how long he had been lying there, but he could still hear the screams for help echoing in his ears.

Unknown to him, a black, vile, sludge began to flood the area he was in. It corrupted and eroded the foundation of the building the boy was on.

It started as a single crack. Then a couple more. A few more. They sounded close by, almost under him. He understood what was happening.

The boy, despite the situation, deadpanned at the sky.

He had the strangest feeling that the world had it out for him.

The roof underneath him collapsed, the all too familiar feeling of falling encompassed him. He zoned out, he was barely conscious. The boy didn't really hear any of the carnage around him. All he knew or cared about is that it would be over soon. He hit the ground, but his entire body was too numb to feel it. The rest of the building fell down on top of him and in only a few seconds he was buried.

The boy coughed. He tasted copper in his mouth. He spat out the blood and looked up. In the darkness, he could just make out a metal rod on his chest. It took half a second to realize that it was actually going through him - he'd been impaled on a piece of the foundation. Unfortunately for him, the boy started to feel again, just in time to notice that the rod was white-hot.

He joined the chorus of screams. It wasn't long before the pain made him throw up and pass out.

Just in time for the sludge to seep through the rubble, drowning him in its vile substance.

 _ **Ah. You've found yourself a Hunter.**_

 **BGM: Bloodborne OST - Moonlit Melody**

The boy's eyes snapped open as he awakened.

Almost immediately he noticed the lack of pain, the lack of heat.

Was he safe?

He sure as hell hoped so. Once his mind cleared, he finally began to make sense of his surroundings.

It was a garden of sorts. White, unearthly flowers covered the field, with gravestones scattered about here and there. The entire field was covered with a thin layer of mist.

He spotted a figure in the mist, it motioned from him to come closer.

Once he got closer, he could make out what the figure actually was.

It, he didn't know if the thing before him had a gender or not, it was almost bleached white, smaller than even his own five-year-old self. Its body was the definition of skin and bones, it was heavily deformed, it's lower half consumed by mist. Calling it humanoid would be a stretch.

The boy was compelled to follow it, so he did. It led him to some kind of cabin, a workshop on closer inspection. Books filled the shelves, most scattered in large piles everywhere on the wooden floor. Desks and tables ran up the walls with various tools scattered across them, each one with the sole purpose of killing. Cabinets held various vias and glasses, none of which he knew what they did. And at the far end was a strange altar.

Sitting in the center of it all was a withered old man dressed in tattered Victorian clothing in a wheelchair, he looked like the slightest breeze would turn him to dust. His right foot was replaced with a pegleg, and in his hands was an old cane.

He looked at the boy as if someone had told him the absolute worst joke in the world.

The old man gave a long frustrated sigh. "Flora, you've tasked me with training countless Hunters, and you send me a child."

He looked at the child in front of him with a scrutinizing gaze. "Red hair? Don't see that too often nowadays. What's your name, boy?"

"My name?" The boy thought.

What was his name? After a few seconds, it came to him.

"Shirou." the boy finally said.

The old man gave a bitter, but approving smile. "Hmm, Shirou. A strange name, but a good one nonetheless."

He looked at Shirou with eyes that held such tiredness, that the natural human mind wouldn't be able to comprehend.

"You may call me, Gehrman." the old man, now addressed as Gehrman said. "I'm a friend to you Hunters. I'm sure you're in a fine haze. But don't think too much about it. I'll get you up to stuff before too long."

"Follow me," he commanded as his wheelchair moved without his input by some unearthly force. "There is much work to be done."

Shirou followed without hesitation.

Stumbling forth, just like he did in the fire.

 _ **Just go out and kill a few beasts. It's for your own good.**_

Twelve-year-old Shirou swung the saw cleaver down as hard as his small body could steal ripped through flesh as the head of the beast came off at long last.

He had finally killed his first beast.

It had taken a few tries. A few deaths to get it right. But he had finally done it.

"Grandpa Gehrman was right," he said to himself. "The first few deaths are the best, it gets easier after that."

He shook his head as he headed back upstairs to the lamp. His Hunter attire was shredded in multiple places, he was covered in blood, couldn't tell which was his or the beast.

His hand hovered above the mist covered lamp post as the mist consumed him, sending back to the Hunter's Dream.

As Shirou awakened back into the Dream, he followed the stone path into the garden. The red-headed boy started running as soon as he spotted Gehrman at the top of the hill.

"Grandpa Gehrman!" Shirou shouted excitedly. "I finally killed my first beast!"

The man in question gave the young boy a kind, warm smile. Shirou had grown on Gehrman quite a bit, he was like a son to The First Hunter. He knew it wouldn't last, but god help him if this optimistic little boy wasn't the only thing keeping him sane.

"Great work, Shirou." Gehrman gave Shirou the once over. "Looks like it got you good too."

The redhead rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I died a few times, but I got it in the end."

If Gehrman was surprised, he didn't show it. A boy, no older than twelve, made light of being killed. Multiple times in fact.

He had trained the boy for seven years, but no amount of training would prepare Shirou for the horrors of the Hunt, for the beast and inhuman monstrosities that lurked around every corner.

Honestly, he expected a traumatized, sobbing wreck when Shirou experienced his first death.

Maybe Shirou was made of stronger stuff?

Gehrman sighed. "Go to the workshop, the Doll prepared some Blood Vials for you, fix yourself up and come back."

Shirou nodded as head walked back to the workshop.

The First Hunter looked at the young boy as he walked away, he his head solemnly.

"No, he's not strong." Gehrman corrected. "The weak ones always hide their true feelings."

In two minutes time, Shirou came back, his clothes repaired, and wounds healed.

Gehrman gave an approving nod.

The old hunter took in a long breath. "What is your dream, Shirou?"

It was a pointless question, he knew it. Once you were a Hunter, there is no other path for you.

Shirou thought about it for a while, he thought about it long and hard.

And finally, he came to his conclusion.

"My dream is to be a hero and save people. Just like Ludwig did!" Shirou declared with determination.

Gehrman was stunned. Shirou's answer was completely blunt and straight to the point.

The part that stunned him the most was how utterly naive his surrogate grandson was.

To show such naivety in Yharnam of all places, during the Hunt no less.

The First Hunter started laughing uncontrollably. It wasn't a laugh filled with joy, it was the maddening cackles of a man thrown into complete despair.

He just couldn't help but laugh at it all.

Yharnam was going to completely and utterly break his grandson, far beyond what the fires that took his previous life away did. The Hunt would shatter every worldly view he had, and leave him a shell of his former self. That was if there was even a trace of his former self there once everything was said and done.

The Moon Presence, Flora, had given him what he considered his grandson. Only to take that away from him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Was it not enough that the old man had to kill the boy in the end.

So he laughed. He laughed in the pure, hilarious despair of it all.

Even as tears of sorrow fell from his eyes, he laughed.

Even as Shirou, tried to find out what was wrong with him, he laughed.

Even as the Doll took him back to the workshop as Shirou finally went out and started exploring the now beast ridden Yharnam, he laughed.

What else could he do? But watch as his grandson stumbled forth, just like he did in the fire all those years ago.

 **Days later.**

"Shirou," Gehrman called out.

The redhead in question was in front of the old man almost immediately.

"Yes, Grandpa Gehrman?" Shirou asked.

The First Hunter sighed inwardly, he had to talk some sense into the boy. If he couldn't get through to him now then what hope was there for both of them?

"Shirou, you said your wish was to become a hero, correct?" he asked the boy.

Shirou nodded. "Yes, more than anything."

Gehrman looked him right in the eyes. "Hunters can't be heroes, Shirou. All we do is kill."

Shirou looked as if he'd been slapped in the face. "B-But I can help people! I'm a Hunter, Ludwig did the same, why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Shirou, look what happened when you found those blood crazed town folk." Shirou grimaced at the reminder. "If you can't protect yourself, how can you protect anyone else?"

"I don't need to protect myself, I don't die when I'm killed!" Shirou exclaimed, not knowing how stupid he sounded.

Gehrman shook his head as head remembered. "You have good intentions my boy." his eyes turned colder ice. "But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

"Then I'll walk the road safely." Shirou declared stubbornly.

Gehrman sighed, there wasn't any hope for Shirou, the only way for him to learn was to finish his Hunt.

"The fates that heroes meet in the end are the cruelest of them all, Shirou."

God help the poor fool.

Gehrman looked on somberly as his grandson stumbled forth, just like in the fire all those years ago.

 _ **Take my word, and turn back before it's too late. Unless I suppose, you've taken an interest in nightmares?**_

This wasn't a dream to Shirou anymore. It was a dark, bloody, perverse, twisted nightmare beyond any sense of the word. Hunters roamed the streets, killing anything and everything in their path.

The irony of what he was was doing wasn't lost on him. Fighting blood crazed hunters in order to save beast.

And the deeper Shirou went, the worse things got.

He was fourteen now, and today was the day that he met the person that inspired him to be a hero, Ludwig.

Well, the monster that Ludwig had become.

The fight with the beast that had once been the First Church Hunter was the most brutal, grueling fight Shirou had ever been put through. Ludwig pushed him to his limits and then some, but in the end, Shirou won.

It was a single decisive blow that decided the victor. A quick draw slash with his Chikage, he had gotten from becoming a Vileblood, to Ludwig's sword hand. That one precise slash sent Ludwig's sword flying into the air.

Shirou dropped his Chikage and caught the massive Holy Moonlight Sword, thanks to years of being constantly infused with Blood Echos he could lift the giant blade. And Shirou swung the massive, glowing blade as hard as he could.

The beast had been decapitated.

Shirou collapsed onto his back, breathing heavily as Ludwig's severed head began to ramble to him.

"Good Hunter," the said began. "Have you seen the thread of life? Just a hair. A fleeting thing! Yet I clung to it, steeped as I was in the stench of blood and beast. I never wanted to know what it really was. Really, I didn't..."

Shirou didn't have anything to say. His mind was in utter turmoil.

Here he was! Ludwig, the man that inspired him to be a hero. Is this the kind of thing that happens to heroes in the end?

He thought his Hunt was for a noble cause. He thought the Church had been a source of good in the ruined city. But, to find the hero he looked up to be the beast Shirou brought down. He thought he was going to help people, that he was helping people.

He thought he was going to be a hero.

Ludwig kept rambling until his words became maddened screams and crazed laughter.

Shirou picked up his Chikage and brought it down on Ludwig's head, ending the poor man's suffering.

 _ **Crack!**_

It was a sound that could only be heard by Shirou, but even then he didn't react. He couldn't be bothered to.

He grabbed the Holy Moon Sword, the blade shrunk in his to be of use to its new master, and he made his way to the Research Hall.

Even still, he didn't acknowledge the sound.

After all, how does one react to an ideal beginning to breaking apart?

So he stumbled forth, just like in the fire all those years ago.

 _ **Dear oh dear, what was it? The blood, the hunt, or the horrible dream?**_

 **BGM: Bloodborne OST - The First Hunter**

Shirou once again laid down in the garden of the Hunter's Dream.

He changed so much so much ever since he had come to the Dream. He had turned sixteen now, and thanks to the dream sustaining him, he grew to a respectable six foot one. After all, the dream wanted strong Hunters, and it would make them if it had to. His rust-red hair turned blood red with a few streaks of black running through it, his hair grew down to his upper back, mostly due to negligence. His dull eyes which used to be amber turned gray, they stared up at the moon, calling them lifeless wouldn't be too far from the truth.

His form was caked in blood, and his Hunter Attire was in tatters, most of the coat and clothes on his upper body were mare rages that didn't cover up much. Many of the wounds that littered his body were considered certain death, especially the gaping, fist-sized hole in his chest. Usually, this would be the sign of a fruitful hunt for the redhead, not today at least.

"Still alive?" he heard an old and pained voice next to him say.

Shirou turned his head to see Gehrman, his surrogate grandfather in much of the same state as him.

The white flowers across the field were splattered with blood, shattered tombstones and broken Trick Weapons were scattered here and there. Didn't take a genius the figure out what happened between the two.

"Barely," he replied. "You?"

Gehrman coughed up some blood. "Much of the same. You're as stubborn as me."

Shirou gave a pained grin. "Learned from the best."

"I know," Gehrman stated blandly. "And I'm regretting it, truly I am."

The two laughed a bit despite the pain. After a few seconds of silence, Shirou spoke up.

"You were right," he said. "Right about everything, the road to Hell truly is paved with good intentions."

Gehrman snorted. "And when were you suddenly blessed with such insight?"

"When I found the Hunter's Nightmare," Shirou stated.

"Oh," Gehrman said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Don't be, like I said, you were right all along." Shirou took out his Hunter Pistol. One bullet was left.

Shirou pressed the barrel of the pistol to the side of Gehrman's head.

"Goodbye, Grandpa Gehrman." Shirou solemnly said.

"The night and the dream were long..." Gehrman said as he closed his eyes.

 _ **Bang!**_

 **BGM END**

Tears escaped Shirou's eyes as the last person close to him faded away from the dream, leave only his trick weapon and Hunter Badge behind.

He took the badge, it was more like a necklace, it was in the shape of a small scythe blade with a few runes on it, a hole at the "tang" of the blade was made so that string could go through it. Shirou dragged himself to the tree where Gehrman left his wheelchair and rested his injured body against it and put the necklace-like badge around his neck.

That was it. Done.

His grandfather was finally released from the hell known as the Hunter's Dream.

What now? He was still trapped in the accursed place.

Suddenly, red light bathed the field. Shirou looked up, and his blood boiled.

The blasphemous thing that floated down could hardly be described with words. It was something that needed to be experienced to truly understand. That is if the experience didn't drive a normal human being insane.

Its whole body was practically made of rotted flesh. Its torso was just a spine and ribcage lightly laced with rotted flesh. Its boney limbs were covered in dry blood. Three tail-like appendages were on its backside. The thing's head couldn't even be called a head, more like a mass of tentacles the all converge at one point connecting to the body.

Shirou grit his teeth and scowled at the thing before him.

This was a Great One, a Lovecraftian, mind-shattering god beyond all human imagining.

The Good Hunter was angry at the Great One before him, he was angry at himself, angry at the world. He was angry at a lot of things.

But Shirou just couldn't help but feel pure and utter hate for the thing in front of him.

This was the thing that trapped Gehrman in the dream and made him train countless Hunters for its purpose. Only to make Gehrman kill them when usefulness came to an end.

This was the thing that ripped Shirou from his world and trapped him in this hell.

This was the true founder of the Hunt.

"Flora." he spat.

Shirou glared at Flora with eyes colder than any worldly ice. He grabbed the two closest blades near him. His grandfather's Burial Blade, and the Holy Moonlight Sword.

He moved forth, but this time, he didn't stumble.

He _refused_ to stumble.

He _refused_ to be used any longer.

He _refused_ to go down without a final stand.

 **BGM: God Eater Burst OST - Time of Decision**

With blades, a solemn, tired heart, and broken ideals. He didn't stumble, he walked with purpose.

He wasn't a sword made to save. He was a blade born to kill.

 _ **I am the blade of slaughter.**_

The words came from Shirou's mouth only, but it sounded like the voices of thousands.

The words were an aria, but for what, neither Shirou nor Flora knew. But they were Shirou's words and words of truth.

He gripped his grandfather's scythe harder and slung it over his shoulder with his right arm.

 _ **Cursed is my blood, and dark is my heart.**_

The Holy Moonlight Sword glowed it's green arcane energy, brimming with enough energy to match even the mightiest of Noble Phantasms.

 _ **I have ended countless lives**_

Each step Shirou took brought agonizing pain, but he had been much, much worse than this. He kept moving forward as his eye color turned red.

 _ **No longer will I be constrained by mortal limitations.**_

The Little Ones and the Doll watched in awe at the bright and brilliant light of truth that emanated from the gardens.

 _ **Nor will I falter should my body turn to something blasphemous.**_

The blade that was once Ludwig's glowed with a brilliance that it matched Excalibur itself, but this sword was not one of promised victory; it was one of truth. It was a sword that showed people the way. It guided them.

 _ **Always alone atop a hill of corpses.**_

But the sword's true master couldn't be someone who followed others. Its master was one who would carve their own path.

 _ **Thus my hunt will never end.**_

The Great One, Flora, couldn't make sense out of Shirou's words, was he just describing himself, such petty human troubles. It didn't matter though, the Great One was God in this dream, nothing would be able to slay it, no matter what kind of weapon they used.

 _ **So as I pray.**_

The Burial Blade darkened as Shirou's blood coated the blade, the echoes of blood triggered something from within the very first Trick Weapon. Black and red energy wisped around the scythe as if flame, and it grew rapidly, matching the flow of power coming from the Holy Moonlight Sword with perfect balance.

 _ **Under a Paleblood Moon.**_

And with a burst of black and green flames, they were transported to a melancholy world of blades.

 _ **Are you cold...? Oh, Good Hunter.**_

The fire in the city raged on as Kiritsugu continued to search for someone, anyone who was still alive.

He couldn't believe that he was responsible for this destruction, but he was, and he knew it. But just after he found another corpse on the ground, something horrifying happened.

A half a mile away, an arm erupted from the mud of the Holy Grail. The arm was massive, it seemed to be made of sharp metal, black in color, they were arranged into what could only be described as segmented scales, connected to each other with red, bleeding flesh.

Whatever the thing was pulled itself out quickly, causing an eruption of mud, flame, and debris.

 **BGM: Shin Godzilla OST - Who Will Know (Tragedy)**

It was made of blades.

Maddening whispers and blasphemous, unintelligible alien sounds assaulted his mind, making Kiritsugu grab his head pain, as he watched the thing pull itself out.

The thing's head was like a dragon's, it was black with warped burning red lighting bolts as its eyes, the horns on its head seemed almost like a crown. It had no lips exposing its red neck was long and looked flexible, despite being made of blades. The front of the neck showed exposed muscle fiber

Its arms and legs were metallic; black with fours fingers, each having a red wicked metal claw. The top half of the limbs were armored with blades while the bottom half was exposed showing muscle fiber. There were large blades on its elbow.

Its chest looked like blades and flesh fused together to form some kind of demented, exposed ribcage. It had a long blade like tail with serrated spikes. The tail whipped around, slicing a few buildings to pieces.

The metallic whoosh of blades swinging through the air was made as the thing unfurled its wings, but they weren't like normal feathered wings, the skeletal frame was black in color while four large black blades with red edges made up both wings.

The tangs of the blades were connected to what looked like muscle, and the blades themselves were wrapped in a black glossy substance in various places that connected the blades together, giving the appearance of something similar to black webs connecting the blades.

Despite its monstrous appearance, it stood on two legs like a human begin, reaching the size of large buildings.

Awe or horror, Kiritsugu didn't know what to feel as he looked at the draconic being made of flesh and blades.

Then it looked up to the moon...and it roared.

 _ **"RRROOOOAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"**_

It was a deafening and horrid sound. Inhuman, and yet all too human.

Giant spires of blade erupted from the ground near the monster.

Somehow Kiritsugu just knew that this thing should have never existed in this world. It wasn't a dragon, even if it did look like one, wasn't a god, it most certainly wasn't a TYPE.

It was worse.

But just as soon as the monster appeared, it vanished. In a cloud of black smoke and red embers, disappeared as if it was never there to begin with.

Kiritsugu shook his head, with nothing left to lose, he marched on to where the creature was.

 _ **I wanted to be a hero.**_

Five-year-old Shirou dragged his broken body forwards with his right arm alone.

Most of his body crushed, his chest burned and stabbed through by a white-hot metal rod in the foundation the building he was in. But he kept on move forwards, after all, he'd through worse.

Even as the figure of a man sprinted to his downed form, he kept moving.

But the man stopped him. He put what appeared to be a golden scabbard inside of him by some mystical means. Whatever it was, it was beginning to heal him, kept his by from giving out on him.

As he saw the man before him cry tears of pure, absolute joy. His smile displayed complete and utter happiness.

" _Could I ever be that happy?"_ Shirou squashed that thought down almost immediately.

He couldn't, he knew it.

What happiness was there for a blade born to kill?

 **Chapter End.**


	2. Complications (Revised)

**The rundown of this chapter is that it's basically an info dump mixed in with a lot of humor, mostly to explain just how utterly** _ **bullshit**_ **Great One Shirou would be.**

 **Just keep in mind that this** _ **IS**_ **a semi-crack fic.**

 **I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Chapter Two: Complications**

Gaia and Alaya looked at each other, then looked back to the draconic thing ripping itself out of the mud of the Holy Grail.

After sensing a rather large disturbance, the two wills of the world came together for a meeting.

Turns out both humanity's unconscious will to survive and the planet's will to survive take the form of extremely beautiful women when meeting together. Go figure.

Gaia was incredibly confused while Alaya looked at it in pure horror.

"I-Is that a new kind of Type or something?" the planet's will to survive asked hesitantly.

"I would agree if it weren't for that fact that this thing was human at one point," Alaya said in near monotone as she stared at the monster.

Gaia looked at Alaya incredulously. "Excuse you and the entire race you protect, but did you just say that thing was HUMAN before it became...that!"

"I don't know. I don't think I want to know." Alaya's eyes widened. "Hold, from what I'm seeing, this thing is a...sword."

Gaia was incredibly confused. "A sword?"

"Yes, yes it is." and with growing horror, she continued. "Not only that, it's a sword that, in fact, doesn't exist in this world at all."

The look on Gaia's matched the horror on Alaya's. "It's similar to Ea of all things."

Alaya nodded shakily.

"What are you waiting for!? Send the entire Counter Force after the damn thing!" Gaia demanded.

Alaya grimaced. "You see, I would, but..."

Gaia raised an eyebrow. "But?"

Alaya hung her head. "The moment I showed them it, they all threatened to go on strike."

Gaia only had one thing to say to that.

"What?" she asked dumbly.

Alaya looked sheepishly to the side. "Yeah, they formed a union a few thousand years back."

The will of humanity put her hand on her forehead as she snapped her fingers. A window into the HQ of the Counter Force was shown. Every single Counter Guardian yelled protest and held up picket signs.

Gaia looked on in awe. "None of them even tried to fight?"

"The moment anyone sensed its presence they all bailed," Alaya admitted.

"Wow, I pity you so much right now."

Alaya's eye twitched, but then she smirked and pointed to a certain section of the mass protest. "No, I pity you."

Gaia's eyes widened in disbelief as she saw BEAST IV, Primate Murder, in its squirrel-like form, stood up on its hind legs raising a picket fence the size of a billboard on a stick with its front paws, swaying back and forth. Not even Primate Murder was willing to fuck with the draconic creature made of blades and flesh.

"FOU, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO MOMMY!?" Gaia shouted in despair.

Alaya looked at Gaia amusement. "On the plus side, Altrouge is going to be horribly confused as to where her pet is."

"Can't you just force them to fight it?" Gaia asked after getting over that fact that her BEAST was currently on strike.

"You see, that's the other reason why I'm not sending them down there. The ensuing battle would destroy the world."

"That's bad.

"A Type-level threat would leave less destruction."

"That's really bad!"

"Accurate. But have you noticed something even worse."

"There's worse!?"

"Yeah." Alaya's face turned grim. "It's not bound by your rules."

"Please tell me it can't-"

"It can destroy the world itself if it wants to."

Gaia then proceeded to faint. Alaya face palmed as she pulled out a smartphone and called someone.

"EMIYA, could you do me a small favor an-."

[I AM NOT FIGHTING THAT THING!]

Alaya winced at the loudness of one of her best Counter Guardian's voice.

"Can you at least get me ten tubs of EX ranked ice cream?"

[That, I can do.]

Alaya squinted her eyes as the dragon-like monster was consumed by black smoke and embers. She noticed a small child dragging his broken body out of the smoke, the child had red rust hair and amber eyes. Alaya's eyes were the size of dinner plates when she put two and two together.

"Make it twenty tubs of EX ranked ice cream," Alaya said as she watched the past version of EMIYA drag his broken body with single-minded determination.

 _ **Linebreak**_

Amber eyes opened up to see a white ceiling.

Shirou groaned as he got up and stretched. He looked around to see a very unfamiliar place, everything was, for the most part, white. And the technology was far beyond anything Yharnam had.

Shirou looked around the room to see children of various ages and many states of injury. He shook his head at the somber sight. He'd lost many things in the Hunt, his ideals, is humanity, but even then, he never lost himself. Through all the horrors, betrayals, the losses, even the countless deaths. He still gave a damn.

The Hunter gave himself the once over, finally realizing that he was back in his five-year-old body.

"Oh God, I'm a midget," Shirou said blandly.

The door opened cutting off any train of thought.

A man walked in, he wore a black suit and trench coat, his hair was black and spiked in various places. His eyes were blank for the most part, but they lit up when they saw Shirou.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _"He's alive..." the Magus Killer said in pure elation. "Thank God! He's alive!"_

 _Shirou looked blankly at the man above him as rain poured down, he was curious about him. Why did he feel so much joy due to the act of saving him? It didn't make much sense to the Great One._

 _"Thank you..." the man continued as head held Shirou's hand. "Thank you!"_

 _ **"For what?"**_ _Shirou thought._ " _ **What did I do to make you so happy?"**_

 _"I'm so glad I found you..." the man said. "I'm so glad I found someone. I have been saved."_

 _Shirou's eyes widened._ _ **"I saved him? This is what it's like to save someone?"**_

 _He wasn't able to save a single person in all of Yharnam, not able to protect them from the horrors of the Hunt, or from themselves._

 _He watched as everyone around him became just another corpse, he helpless to stop it._

 _But now he's finally saved someone! He did the one thing he failed to do while in Yharnam._

 _And what did Shirou feel after finally saving someone after all these years?_

 _Empty._

 _Cold._

 _He didn't even get a bittersweet feeling._

 _Just nothing._

" _What's your name?" Shirou asked, much to the man's surprise. He didn't why he asked it, he just did._

 _The man looked shocked that he was even talking._

" _I-I, my name is Kiritsugu." the magus said._

" _My name is Shirou." the Hunter said._

 _Kiritsugu smiled down at Shirou. "Let's get you somewhere safe, Shirou."_

 _ **Flashback end.**_

Shirou smiled at the man before him. "Hey, Kiritsugu."

Kiritsugu smiled back. "It's good to see you again, Shirou." he sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I suppose I'll come right out and ask which you prefer: being sent off to an orphanage or being taken in by a man you haven't know for very long."

Shirou thought about it for a few seconds, and then he smiled.

"I'd like to go with you." Shirou finally answered.

The expression of pure joy on Kiritsugu's face was infectious as Shirou's own smile widened as well.

"I'm glad," Kiritsugu said.

 **A few weeks later.**

"Hello, Magus Killer!" exclaimed the old man in front of Kiritsugu and Shirou, as they walked back into the Emiya residence.

Kiritsugu had an expression of anxiousness and fear as he looked at who was before him and his adopted son.

The old man appeared to be in his fifties, he had gray gel-spiked hair, he wore a formal Victorian suit and white gloves with a cane in his hands.

This was everyone's favorite interdimensional troll, Zelretch!

"Who are you," Shirou asked blandly, it wasn't that he was irritated by the old man, the boy had trouble expressing human emotions. It was something Kiritsugu was working on with the boy.

"Why my name is Zelretch, what might yours be?" the Wizard Marshal asked, though he already knew who Shirou was. Zelretch had seen many version of the child who wanted to be a Hero of Justice.

"My name is Shirou Emiya, nice to meet you," Shirou said politely.

Zelretch gave Shirou an approving look. "A boy with good manners, a wonderful surprise."

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly. Depends on how you look at it. Almost every version of Shirou hated Zelretch. So, for any version of him to treat the Wizard Marshal with any kind of kindness was a pleasant surprise.

"E-Excuse my rudeness," Kiritsugu finally came into the conversation. "But why are you here?"

Zelretch's expression turned serious. "A few weeks ago, something pulled itself out of the mud of the Holy Grail. And I'm getting the same feeling it gave off from Shirou over here."

Kiritsugu stepped in front of his son protectively. "What do you want from my son?"

Zelretch held his hands up in surrender. "No need to be so hostile, I'm not here to harm any of you, I'm just here to check out what might be wrong with your son."

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes at Zelretch, he moved away from Shirou. The Magus Killer gripped the Thompson Contender in his trench coat, an Origin Bullet preloaded into the Mystic Code. The moment Zelretch did anything remotely hostile he was getting his Magic Circuits cut out of his own soul, no questions asked.

Zelretch put his hand on Shirou's head.

The Wizard Marshal's eyes widened as he stared at Shirou in a mix of awe, interest, and slight fear.

"Just what are you, Shirou?" he asked the boy.

Shirou stared at Zelretch for a few seconds. "A Great One."

Zelretch's mind came to an abrupt halt.

A Great One, he'd heard of the term before, and he knew well enough to stay the fuck away from them like the damn plague. But it was too soon to make assumptions, he needed one more piece of information before he could allow himself to have a panic attack right in front of everyone.

"Do you know the name of the city, born of blood?" he asked seriously, Kiritsugu was horribly confused by the exchange between his odd son and the Wizard Marshal.

"Yharnam," Shirou stated simply.

Zelretch's eye widened in pure unadulterated horror. "Shirou, what do you think of heroes?"

Shirou's eyes could only be described as lifeless. "Heroes are a waste of time, I was stupid to try and follow that path myself."

The room was dead silent, both Kiritsugu and Zelretch were shocked to the core by his answer.

This was wrong. So, very, very, wrong.

Zelretch had seen many versions of Shirou, some the same, some different, but they all had one constant.

Their dream was to be a Hero of Justice. And this Shirou had spat on that dream with one simple sentence.

When Zelretch looked in Shirou's eyes, he didn't see a child. He saw an old withered, tired soul. A chipped, bent, broken, sword. Twisted beyond belief, but even in this state, he was more than prepared to carve open whoever was dumb enough to get in his way.

He saw a Hunter.

" _Of all the possible places Shirou could have ended up. Why Yharnam."_ Zelretch thought as he looked at the boy with a somber expression.

What was before Kiritsugu and the Wizard Marshal was the worst outcome for the existence known as Shirou Emiya. Something far worse than the fate of Heroic Spirit EMIYA.

He had one last question for Shirou. "How were you able to turn into a Great One during the fire?"

Shirou thought about how to explain it for a few seconds, then he motioned for Zelretch to come closer.

When Zelretch did as such, Shirou poked him in the head, memories and images flooded Zelretch's mind.

The Kaleidoscope stepped back abruptly as the transfer finished. If he was a normal man then he would be brain dead now, he'd had just been shown Shirou's entire life in Yharnam, and had a very good idea on how Shirou broke Gaia's rules and turned himself into a Great One to get himself out of the mud of the Grail.

Zelretch's head snapped to Kiritsugu. "We need to talk." he glanced at Shirou. "Alone."

The Magus killer nodded. "Shirou, it's late, time to go to bed."

The redhead nodded emotionlessly and did as he was told.

Once they heard his door close the Kaleidoscope let out of shaky sigh. He sat down on a nearby chair and rubbed his temples.

"Never in my years would ever foresee this to be a possible outcome," he said.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Kiritsugu asked.

Zelretch sighed. "Your son isn't as human as he seems."

"Excuse me?" he asked as his eyes narrowed at the Dead Apostle.

"Human in body, not in mind. He's...evolved you could say."

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes. "Could you start speaking sense."

Zelretch looked Kiritsugu right in the eyes. "Shirou died during the fire, crushed underneath a building and drowned in the mud of the Holy Grail, but a certain being took advantage of his death and brought his soul into a dimension known as a Dream. There he was put through complete an utter hell. He followed the path of a hero, but everyone he tried to save died." He paused. "Eventually, he found a place called the Hunter's Nightmare, and by the time he came out of it, his ideal of being a hero was completely and utterly broken. Along the way, he killed a few Type-like beings."

Kiritsugu looked at Zelretch in disbelief. "He killed a Type-like being!?"

"Technically, he killed eight of them." Zelretch corrected.

The Magus killer just looked at Zelretch like he was completely insane. To be fair, he wasn't completely wrong.

"Along the way, Shirou became a Great One himself, and in turn, his Reality Marble evolved to such an extreme that it became its own separate dimension, known as a Dream."

Kiritsugu sighed as he walked over to the fridge and grabbed a few beers. He sent all but one of the beers down, opened up the one in his hand, and started chugging.

"Anything else you'd like to lay on me?" Kiritsugu asked condescendingly.

"Yeah, your son was that thing you saw rip itself out of mud and fire," Zelretch stated.

"PFFFFFFFF!" Kiritsugu spat as he was sipping his beer. He coughed a few times as some of it went down the wrong hole. After taking a deep breath he snapped at Zelretch. "Okay, now I know you're full of shit! Why the hell should I believe a word coming out of your mouth right now!? Even if what you're saying is true, then Alaya would be shiting out Counter Guardians weeks ago!"

Zelretch deadpanned. "That's the part that confuses me too, I have no idea."

 **Counter Force HQ.**

"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!" shouted a literally infinite amount of Counter Guardians.

Alaya shook with anger. "Fucking fine! You don't have to fight it, now shut up!"

A chorus of cheers rang out from the crowd.

"Fuck all ya'll!" Alaya shouted as she walked away. "Where the fuck is my ice cream!?"

 **Back with Zelretch and Kiritsugu.**

"Look, I can see that just telling you won't make you believe me," Zelretch stated. "So instead, I'll show you."

Before Kiritsugu could react, Zelretch was right in front of him and placed his finger on the man's head. One week worth of memories was sent into the Magus Killer's mind, but at a far slower pace than what Shirou did to Zelretch.

After a few minutes, Zelretch removed his finger from Kiritsugu's forehead

Kiritsugu shakily turned his head to where Shirou's room was. "How long did my son had to go through that?"

"When he first started the Hunt, four years," Zelretch said solemnly. "He spent a few hundred years whilst in his own Dream after becoming a Great One."

Kiritsugu grit his teeth and slammed his fist against the kitchen counter in frustration.

"Mentally, he's barely human, broken, but there is a chance for recovery," Zelretch explained.

Kiritsugu's expression turned hopeful. "Are you sure?"

"Honestly, no, I'm not very sure. There is a chance that he'll never be able to understand human emotions, much less function in society."

Kiritsugu sighed as he offered Zelretch a beer, the Wizard Marshal gave him an appreciative nod as he opened it. The two took a lengthy swig before setting their beers down.

"I took a look at his magic circuits," Zelretch stated.

"What did you find?"

"At first, I thought he had a magic core, but then I took a longer look at it." Zelretch narrowed his eyes in thought. "It's more like his whole body is just one big magic circuit, I know it doesn't really make sense but it's the closest thing I can equate it to."

Kiritsugu tilted his head. "I don't get it."

"Okay think of it like this." Zelretch started. "Magic Circuits are like machines, a Magic Core is like an entire factory. Shirou is like a planet working on overdrive."

The Magus Killer wasn't even surprised anymore. "So, did you figure out how he can turn into his Great One form?

"Ah, almost forgot about that." Zelretch took a deep breath. "Using his Reality Marble turned into a Dream, he looked for a human body that was compatible with his mind. Coincidentally, The only body compatible with his Great One mind was, is, in fact, his original body. In a sense, you could say that he "jumpstarted" his old body by "leaking" his Great One form fully through it."

"So, that's his true form?"

Zelretch nodded. "Oh, most definitely. He's not here to harm anyone, he's just looking for something." the Apostle shook his head. "You know that the Einzbern family isn't going to stand by and just let you keep Avalon."

Kiritsugu's eyes widened when Zelretch dropped that bomb.

Yeah, it was extremely stupid to think that the Einzbern family would leave Avalon alone after all the time resources they spent looking for the damn thing. It was only a matter of time before Jubstacheit von Einzbern came breaking down his door.

Zelretch waved off is concerned. "Worry not, you already have that side covered."

"How so?"

"Makihisa Tohno owes you a favor after you assisted in the annihilation of the Nanaya clan." Zelretch sighed. "Though, you did too well. You killed a certain someone that had a critical role in the future."

Kiritsugu raised an eyebrow at that. "Killed someone who had an important role to play in the future?"

Zelretch shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Just get Makihisa to cover your asses, not even the Einzbern family is suicidal enough to mess with a family of demon hybrids."

Zelretch took another sip of his beer before continuing. "I've been thinking, maybe I should train Shirou in magecraft."

While Kiritsugu didn't want Shirou to get involved with the Moonlit World, unfortunately, it was a bit too late for that. Shirou had already got the attention of many of the world's most powerful people, Zelretch here was a prime example. It was only a matter of time until they caught up with him. The boy needed to be educated on the world and deal with everything in it as fast as possible.

"Probably for the best honestly," Kiritsugu admitted. "But only if I'm there with him, got it?"

Zelretch shrugged. "Acceptable."

The Apostle drank the rest of his beer and threw the can in the waste bin.

"Thank you for having me Kiritsugu," Zelretch said as he bowed. "I'll take my leave now. I'll see you again soon."

Just before Zelretch could retch the door Kiritsugu had one more thing to ask.

"Zelretch!" Kiritsugu called out, the Wizard Marshal turned around curiously. "You said that Shirou came here looking for something. What was it?"

Zelretch gave him a somber smile. "Something to live for."

 **Chapter End**


	3. Pieces on a Board (Revised)

**Well, with some advice from the review given to me by Disciple of Erebos, I've come to the conclusion that I didn't really give an explanation of WHY Shirou acts the way he does in the story very clearly, which is what I've decided to rectify here in this chapter. To those of you who have read this chapter before on , I encourage you to a least read where up to Zelretch makes his appearance in this chapter, that's where the new content is. Other than that this chapter is mostly unchanged.**

 **But while reading this chapter, I'd like everyone to keep something in mind, much of how Great One's function is left to mystery, such as their perception of time. For all we know, hundreds of years could be seconds to them. Acts so child-like in the story, because he IS basically a child, remember at the Great One end of Bloodborne, you become an infant Great One. Shirou who has been in the Dream for hundreds of years has had NO social interaction with other Great One's at all, and no, the Plain Doll in this fic is not a Great One. So, it's no wonder as to why Shirou hasn't started growing as a person until he actually got social interaction with Kiritsugu and Zelretch.**

 **So I hope you like the more expanded explanation as to why Shirou acts the way he does.**

 **Enjoy guys!**

 **Chapter 3: Pieces on a Board**

Shirou looked up at the sky as he laid down on the grass, he was just outside of Misaki Town watching the clouds.

Shirou and Kiritsugu had been coming over here to stay the summer. It was part of the deal he made with Makihisa, that and his daughter, Akiha, had become particularly fond of Shirou.

It was one of his favorite ways to pass the time, other than sleeping.

Three years had passed since Zelretch had started training him in magecraft, and the Great One of Swords took to it like a sponge. But the type of magecraft taught to Shirou wasn't anything like Kiritsugu was thinking he'd teach his son.

Zelretch taught Shirou something called "Tracing" instead of jewel-based magecraft, the vampire explained that this kind of magecraft was the bread and butter of nearly every version of the existence "Shirou Emiya".

That along with Reinforcement and Structural Analysis.

The strange thing was that those weren't his main forms of magecraft, sure he used Structural Analysis and Reinforcement on a nearly constant basis. But even after hundreds of years, he was still a Hunter, and Hunters tended to use arcane.

Blood Forge, a successful combination of magecraft and arcane.

Yharnam was a place completely void of any form of magic. They had arcane instead, while at first glance, it seemed like a form of magic, it was not. Arcane was the blessings of Great One's given to humanity, sometimes they were even given curses.

Blood Forge was based on the abilities of Lady Maria during Shirou's battle with her but taken to the next level. Shirou could take his own blood and or his enemy's blood, and turn it into anything he wanted to, usually a weapon, sometimes he used it just like Maria did. Shirou could even enhance the blood under his control with elements, more often than not he used fire.

But it had a side effect just like Projection had, his red hair was slowly turning black, and his eyes were turning red. Zelretch estimated that his hair and eye color would completely change by the time he reached sixteen years old.

The blood manipulating powers were made possible due to his conversion into a Vile Blood during his time in the Hunt. That and his dual origin of Sword and Paleblood. Shirou got a bitter laugh at that when he found out.

This wasn't the extent of his abilities though.

Shirou raised his arm, his thumb morphed into a twisted mockery of a blade. He had a link to his Great One body that was in his Dream.

Zelretch had the right idea when he was explaining how Shirou was able to become a Great One in the Waking World. Shirou could leak the cosmic, blasphemous energy of his Great One body into his human body through its link with the Dream.

Depending on the amount of energy, Shirou's human body would mutate, and with enough cosmic energy, Shirou could fully transform into his Great One form. But the cosmic power wasn't infinite, it took time for his body in his Dream the recharge. After the full Great One transformation he used to pull himself out of the mud of the Holy Grail, it took at least three weeks to get back to full strength.

The area around his finger started glitching out due to Gaia's influence. Gaia _really_ didn't like Shirou, no surprise there. After all, he was, in fact, an alien cosmic deity that had no interest killing humanity. Most Great Ones actually _liked_ humanity. But Gaia couldn't reject Shirou's existence, she sure as hell tried though.

Too bad for her that Shirou was a Great One, an extremely powerful, multidimensional being that exist across several planes of existence.

He was Shirou Emiya, the Great One of Blades. If he didn't want to follow the rules, he fucking didn't.

Shirou flicked his thumb, slicing his index finger. The blood that dripped down formed into a small blade, a throwing knife to be precise.

"That's a very interesting form of magecraft." a feminine voice said from behind Shirou.

Shirou knew she was there for a while now, she must have sensed the sheer amount of mana in his body.

Shirou turned around to see a stunningly beautiful woman with long red hair and blue eyes. She wore a white shirt with blue jeans and was carrying a rather large suitcase.

"It's nothing special really," Shirou said with blank eyes as he laid back down on the grass, balancing the tip of the blade on his finger. "Just a little something I came up with myself."

The woman looked at Shirou honestly impressed and disturbed by his seemingly dead eyes. "Not bad for someone your age. My name is Aoko Aozaki, what's your name?"

"Shirou Emiya," he stated.

Aoko's eyes widened at Shirou's sir name.

The name Emiya was notoriously infamous. The Magus Killer even after all these years was still feared.

Aoko knew she couldn't jump to conclusions just yet. "What's your father's name?"

"His father is Kiritsugu Emiya." said the voice of an old man, It was Zelretch. "It's been a while, Aoko."

Aoko turned pale white at the sight of the Apostle. "Z-Zelretch, why are you here?"

Zelretch raised an eyebrow and turned to Shirou. "Why wouldn't I come to visit my favorite student. Good to see again, Shirou, how've you been?"

Shirou smiled, his dead eyes brightened up noticeably. Three years of hanging out with the Wizard Marshal had done wonders for his fractured mind. His understanding and comprehension of human emotions were growing by the day. This was mostly due to his mindset as a Great One being like that of a child. Though his Hunter persona surfaces every now and then as if both his child-like persona and Hunter persona are vying for control. Kiritsugu described it as mood swings.

Shirou was normally very child-like given that he threw rather...deadly tantrums. But Shirou was slowly learning what was acceptable when not in his Hunter persona.

Zelretch and Kiritsugu could attest to the young Great One's apocalyptic tantrums seeing as he'd nearly been arrested a few times already. So many bodies.

"I've been good, Zelretch." the blood knife in Shirou's hand flowed back into the cut on his finger. "I've made a lot of progress with Blood Forge."

Zelretch grinned in excitement. "Good on you, Shirou! I've been working with arcane as of late with that link you gave me to the Dream."

Shirou looked rather curious. "Hmmm, what progress have you made."

"I haven't made much in terms of progress, but arcane is an incredibly fascinating thing to research into. Seriously, A Call Beyond is straight up True Magic, but it's not since it doesn't use mana in the first place."

"Arcane?" Aoko asked confused. "What's that?"

Zelretch winched. "It's not something you want to get involved with if you don't the proper safety measures, Aoko."

She raised an eyebrow. "...I see."

Zelretch turned to Shirou. "It's getting late, Shirou. You should go back to the Tohno Mansion. That Akiha girl is starting to get worried about you, and we both know how she gets when she's concerned about your wellbeing."

Shirou cringed, he knew how bad Akiha could get when she was worried about him. He'd known the girl for three years after all.

"And SHIKI is starting to get bored." Zelretch continued, he grinned as Shirou's face turned to one of nervousness.

SHIKI getting bored wasn't a good thing, he played pranks when he was bored, and Shirou was usually the victim of said pranks.

"Also, Kiritsugu said he's going to start cooking dinner." he finished.

Shirou's expression turned into that of one who had experienced the greatest of horrors, which he in fact had. But Kiritsugu's cooking was another thing altogether, the abominations he created could fell even the Types themselves.

Zelretch would know, he _killed_ a Type after all.

It was agreed by the both of them that Kiritsugu should never ever enter a kitchen ever again.

Which is why Shirou was currently running like all hell had broken loose.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT OVEN, DAD!" Shirou shouted to high heaven as he ran.

Zelretch shook his head in amusement and turned to Aoko, who had an amused smile on her face as well.

"So, that's your student?" Aoko asked. "I'm surprised he hasn't gone crazy due to your teachings like everyone else."

"Yep, Shirou Emiya, the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya," Zelretch stated.

"Adopted?"

"You remember the hot mess that of the Fourth Holy Grail War, and its subsequent end that was the Fuyuki Fire?"

Aoko nodded. "Who doesn't know by now?"

Zelretch hummed. "Yeah, it's a complete miracle that the incident didn't reveal The Moonlit World. The Clock Tower was in total panic. Kiritsugu found him in the Fuyuki Fire."

Aoko's expression turned somber. "That poor boy, I can only imagine what he's been through."

Zelretch turned to look at Misaki Town in the distance. "Believe me on this, Aoko. If Shirou had only died in that fire, it would have been a mercy compared to what followed after."

"How could you say that!?" Aoko shouted in outrage, she was someone who very much valued and appreciated life.

Zelretch sighed. "That's something you might want to ask the boy yourself."

Aoko narrowed her eyes at Zelretch and sighed. "Why did you pick him as your student? Was it his huge mana reserves?"

Zelretch gave a condescending smile. "Not in the slightest. Honestly, I did it on a whim. He was interesting to me, something I had never seen before until now. I guess you could say I got more than I bargained for."

"What do you mean?" Aoko asked.

"Shirou's quite unique."

Aoko nodded as she leaned on a nearby tree. "Yeah, you don't really see many users of blood-based magecraft nowadays."

"No, it's not his magecraft that makes him so unique." Zelretch corrected.

Aoko looked confused. "Then what is it?"

"For your own safety, I can't tell. Maybe one day, but not now."

"You want something from me, don't you?" Aoko stated.

Zelretch nodded. "Yeah, I'd like you to keep an eye on Shirou."

"Why? Didn't you say I shouldn't know the truth about him for my own safety."

The Wizard Marshal shrugged. "It was more of a suggestion really. If you want to find out you'd have to ask Shirou himself, it's not my place to tell his secrets."

Zelretch took a look at the watch on his wrist. "Would you look at the time, I'll catch you later Aoko. It was good seeing you again."

Aoko nodded as she looked off into the distance, specifically where Shirou ran off.

Zelretch smirked as he turned around and began to walk.

Despite what most people thought of Zelretch, he wasn't just some kind of whimsical prankster with an enjoyment of harem shenanigans. Most people forgot that he was indeed a Dead Apostle, vampiric impulses and all. At times he could be quite the cruel and malicious man, after all, most of his students go insane for a reason.

He was a bit of a manipulator, he pushed people in the direction he wanted. Sometimes they followed through, sometimes they didn't. Either way, the result would prove interesting to Zelretch. Usually, someone would end up getting to the short end of the "scenarios" he would create. This time it was anyone stupid enough to get in Shirou's way.

Zelretch walked through a multi-colored, oval-shaped portal that appeared in front of him. He stepped out of the portal and onto the roof of the Tohno Mansion, looking down into the gardens.

There, he saw Shirou and SHIKI out cold with fist-sized holes through their chests, both of their right arms were covered in each other's blood.

It was clear as to what happened.

SHIKI's demon blood went out of control and attacked Akiha, Shirou protected her, mortally wounding himself in the process, he did the same to SHIKI.

Akiha was also out cold as well, she had used half of her own life force to save Shirou, unknown to everyone but Zelretch. SHIKI had stolen half of the life force given to Shirou.

"All the pieces are in place." the vampire said to himself.

Zelretch turned around just as Kiritsugu and Makihisa made their way on the scene. A grin made it's way onto his face as he entered another portal.

Before he stepped through he had a vision.

A young man with long black hair and red eyes, and a tan-skinned older man with white hair and gray eyes. Both about the same height.

The two were in a world of endless swords that was split down the middle, the two halves representing their respective selves.

"I truly am a cruel man," Zelretch said, his grin growing wider as he stepped through the portal.

Later that night.

A girl who looked no older than fifteen watched as the previously, mortally injured Shirou walked back up the grassy hill, lay down, and stare at the stars.

Shirou was never in any danger, Avalon had healed him, even if he didn't have the scabbard of Excalibur, the Dream would keep him alive. He suspected that Zelretch had some hand to play in the events that had transpired, but he held his tongue, it wasn't as if the old man had put the Great One in any _real_ mortal danger.

The girl had pale, almost luminescent skin, and jet black hair the fell to her waist. She wore a knee-length gothic dress that blended in with the darkness of night. Her face could only be described as perfect, soft and kind, she practically radiated innocence. It didn't appear possible for her to even say or think something unkind. Her unearthly beauty was stunning, almost doll-like. Her most striking feature was her eyes, they were a deep crimson that softly glowed in the dead of night.

"So, this is Zelretch's new student." the girl said to herself. "Interesting."

She walked towards Shirou, a large, elephant-sized, white wolf following her closely behind, looking warily at Shirou's laid down form.

As she neared Shirou he casually sat up and turned to her.

"Hello," she began with a polite bow. "My name is Altrouge Brunestud."

 **Chapter End**

 **So, just like the first time I wrote this chapter, there wasn't much crack going on, but I hope the explanation as to why Shirou acts the way he does satisfies you guys.**


	4. A Blood Drunk Hunter (Re-Write)

**Let's see here…*Procedes to read OG chapter 4***

 **Zelretch, get the monkey wrench, we have work to do!**

 **Zelretch: What do you** _ **mean**_ **we have** _ **work!?**_

 **I reread the original chapter, and I realized that this entire chapter was a complete missed opportunity to show just how unhinged and truly dangerous my version of Shirou really is.**

 **Zelretch: *Skims OG chapter* Shit, you're right,** _ **and**_ **we missed the opportunity to make some dank memes!**

 **LET'S DO THIS, MEME BROTHER!**

 **Zelretch: MEMES FOR THE MEME GOD!**

 **Do we even have a Meme God?**

 **Zelretch: You can write a fanfiction about that later!**

 **Welp, to those who read the original chapter 4 of A Blade Borne to Kill, I hope you like this version of it better.**

 **Chapter 4: A Blood Drunk Hunter**

Shirou Emiya, Altrouge didn't really think much of him at first glance. She watched as the boy in question lay down and watch the stars on the grassy hill just outside of Misaki Town.

"So, this is Zelretch's new student," Altrouge said to herself. "Interesting."

He was a child of eight, neck length, messy, red hair with a few black colored streaks here and there. A plain long sleeve black shirt, blue jeans and a pair of black sneakers.

Other than his peculiar hair color, he was completely mundane. Surely there was more to him than meets the eye, after all, Zelretch didn't just take _anyone_ as his student.

There were two noticeable things about him, first, he smelt like the moon, almost like an apostle, but at the same time, something _completely_ different. The other, a mass of the most twisted and blasphemous conception, an unimaginable, and incomprehensible, eldritch force that shouldn't exist in this reality. The last one was faint, but it was there, it wasn't even trying to hide.

It reminded her of when Zelretch and herself celebrated her birthday a few hundred years back. Good times.

It also reminded her of that feeling she got three years ago. An indescribable feeling, not one you could explain, it was something you had to experience. Altrouge didn't know _what_ _it was,_ but it wasn't a good sign.

Hell, most other Dead Apostle Ancestors felt whatever the hell that was three years ago. A majority of them vowed to not piss it off. A good portion of The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors held a meeting over what in the world the force was, and what to do about it. Zelretch volunteered to check it out, he came back an hour later with a grinning ear to ear.

A bad sign if any.

Not to mention that her demonic dog, Primate Murder, was _on guard_ at the sight of this _child._

What in the world had Zelretch taken under his wing? One way to find out.

Altrouge began to approach Shirou with Primate Murder, the Beast of Gaia never once took his eyes off the eight-year-old.

Shirou sat up, he turned to her and tilted his head curiously.

Altrouge gave him a polite bow. "Hello, my name is Altrouge Brunestud."

Shirou turned to her, his eyes filled with childlike innocence. "My name is Shirou Emiya."

Before Altrouge could speak further, something interesting happened with the young boy before her.

All form of expression left his face and the light left his eyes.

"Child," he spoke, not at her, but she noted that his voice was devoid of any emotion. "Even if she does claim to bear the name of Brunestud, you know better than to share our name with a stranger."

Shirou's face immediately turned to one of confusion, the childlike innocence returning to his eyes.

"But dad said it was rude to not introduce yourself when someone greets you," Shirou said innocently.

The emotion left his face once again, and he let out a tired sigh. "I understand what Kiritsugu said, but you should think things through logically."

Shirou nodded quickly, almost like a child listening to an adult. "Okay, I understand."

"Perhaps we should finally greet our new...acquaintance," the emotionless part of the boy began. "After all, it is rude to keep her waiting."

Shirou's lifeless eyes focused on Altrouge. "So, Miss. Brunestud, how can I help you."

Altrouge blinked in surprise. This was new, it was common for Zelretch's students to insane, but usually, they were just broken messes. But this split personality the child before her seem to have was refreshing.

What confused her, even more, was that he wasn't running away or trying to attack her when she mentioned her name. Either the boy had completely lost his marbles or was ignorant of what the name Brunestud truly meant because from what she's seen so far, he didn't even register her as a threat.

Not your typical magus reaction, that was for sure, but it made the boy all the more interesting.

"Oh, it's nothing much, I'm just looking for Zelretch," Altrouge said.

It was true, she was looking for Zelretch, mostly because she was bored. To the Moonlit World, a bored Altrouge was enough to cause for the Clocktower and the Church to go into a full-blown panic mode. After all, it wasn't uncommon for Dead Apostles to kill people, but unlike the other Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors who usually start wars between each other for the sake of entertainment. Altrouge, on the other hand, would personally slaughter thousands of human begins as her go to method of amusing herself.

Zelretch was the only one who could convince her otherwise.

Shirou gave an innocent grin when she mentioned Zelretch's name. "Oh, Uncle Zelretch is at the mansion right now, I can bring you to him if you want."

Altrouge waved him off. "Oh, there's no need, I've already found what I really came for."

The emotionless personality came back again. "What could you want with me?"

Altrouge's smile showed an unnatural amount of teeth. "I was bored and just wanted to meet grandfather's new student."

Shirou stood up. "Really now?"

His emotionless eyes bore into her's, then the light came back into them, excited glee all too present on his face.

"Really?" the 'child' Shirou asked. "Do you want to play with me?"

Altrouge gave an amused smirk. "Sure."

She turned to Primate Murder, the demonic wolf never tore his eyes away from Shirou, his eyes tracking the boy's every move.

"Play with him," Altrouge commanded.

In an instant, Altrouge's demonic dog was right on top of Shirou, it's large maw ready to rip Shirou to pieces.

The Beast of Gaia's jaws clamped down, only to catch nothing but air.

 _Shiiing!_

Suddenly, Primate Murder was cleanly cut into seventeen different pieces. Blood soaking the ground as Altrouge looked on in slight shock and interest.

It wasn't that Primate Murder was killed that surprised her, after all, it would come back to life and regenerate. No, the fact that this _child_ was able to slice apart Primate Murder so quickly. Even top-tier Heroic Spirits would be hard pressed to even keep the Beast of Gaia busy, much less split him into pieces.

Shirou fell from the sky and landed in the pool of blood Primate Murder's body produced. His landing caused the blood to splatter all over his clothes and some of it got on his face. There wasn't any weapon in his hands that signified he had cut up the demonic dog.

His emotionless eyes stared at her, he was completely still, unmoving, as if he was waiting for a response. Almost like he was a machine.

The light came back to his eyes and he pouted adorably. "That was rude!"

The pieces of Primate Murder began to reconnect with each other and heal its wounds. Once fully healed, the Beast of Gaia transformed into a squirrel-like creature and hid behind Altrouge, shivering in fear.

Well, this is quite the peculiar development. The boy before her was a being strong enough to make Beast IV fear him. Well, she knew tonight wasn't going to boring.

"Oh, maybe she wants to play one of _those_ games?" the innocent Shirou asked himself.

"Ah, it's been a while since I've had a Hunt." the emotionless Shirou said. "Those Apostle Hunts Zelretch sends me on are like child's play."

Well, at least she knew why there was such a drop in Apostle activity in recent years, this little monster was responsible for it.

Without warning white fog consumed to the area next to Shirou, footsteps could be heard moving closer.

Out of this fog, a woman appeared. No, not a woman, her face was too perfect, too smooth. Her fingers seemed segmented, like those of a doll. Her skin gave off a peculiar shin in the moonlight, exactly like porcelain.

This...doll had piercing grayish, blue eyes and wore a beautiful Victorianian dress.

The doll itself was too beautiful for mere words.

"Good Hunter," to Altrouge's surprise, the doll actually spoke. "Kiritsugu had become panicked at your sudden disappearance."

The Eclipse Princess of Black Blood narrowed her eyes at the doll, at a glance even a True Ancestor like herself would dismiss this doll as a homunculus. And she would have too if it weren't for that fact that she noticed that the doll carried the scent of the moon, as well as the same eldritch force as young Shirou.

This was no homunculus. Hell, Altrouge didn't even _know_ what this was. She couldn't even sense mana from it.

"Evetta," Shirou spoke, apparently the doll had a name. "Please reassure Kiritsugu, that I am alright. I am merely taking care of some trivial business."

"Yes, Good Hunter," the doll, Evetta, nodded.

"Goodbye, Evetta," the innocent side of Shirou said cheerfully.

The doll ruffled Shirou's hair. "Goodbye, Shirou."

Evetta then turned and began walking into the fog, suddenly the fog dissipated, and Evetta long with it.

Altrouge furrowed her brow. It seems that each side of Shirou Emiya were addressed in different ways. The Good Hunter was Shirou's emotionless half and the child was simply called Shirou.

"So," the side of Shirou known as the Good Hunter turned to face Altrouge. "It seems the child is adamant in playing with you. Since you have proven yourself to hostile, I will not deny him. Child, I will allow you to use this much power."

Shirou gasped. "Really, that much!?"

The Good Hunter nodded. "You have proven that Kiritsugu and I can trust you not to cause too much damage."

Altrouge was rather amused to see the 'child' so excited at the aspect of fighting her. But if it turns out she bit off more than she could chew, then she would just use a Contact to fix it. This would be a night to remember.

The Good Hunter's eyes bore into her own, then he gave her the faintest smile with the barest hint of emotion. Amusement. "Remember, Child, have fun."

 **BGM: My Hero Academia OST - Enemy Strike**

The eldritch force within Shirou began to grow to such an amount it was practically overwhelming.

The sounds of bones snapping and flesh being ripped filled the air, metal scraping against metal could be heard. Shirou body was morphing in a horrific display, black blades jutted out of his shoulders as red tendrils burst from various places all over his body in sprays of blood. The area around Shirou began to glitch out, blades with veins in them began erupting from the ground

Once the gruesome transformation was over, Shirou turned to face Altrouge.

Shirou's body had grown to at least six feet tall, his new, grotesque form had red, glowing eyes all over his body, there were just so many of them. His hair had turned completely black and had grown to his waist. His mouth had turned into a jack-o'-lantern-like maw made of blades, only a few strips of muscle and tendons connected his jaws together. His chin was extended a few inches forward as if another blade. On the sides of his head were a pair of angular bull-like horns. His torso was skinless with blades jutting out of the various places, his ribcage exposed and bladed tendrils came out of his back. Shirou's arms and legs had no skin on them, just exposed muscles with blades jutting out here and there, though his legs became double-jointed, his fingers and toes had turned into large, sickle-like talons.

Black mist rolled off Shirou in waves as his own blood dripped from his body. Glitches could be seen popping in and out at random intervals as Gaia desperately tries to reject his existence to no avail.

Altrouge had only one reaction.

"THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL!" Altrouge fangirled. "I WANT ONE!"

What? Why can't she feel her _everything?_ Oh, her head was just cut off. Riveting!

Time on her body reversed and faster than the eye could blink she had recovered from certain death.

The first ten of The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors were beings that cannot be defeated by normal concepts, as they were fantasy much like the members of the Phantasmal Species. Those who live in fantasy can only be defeated by a fantasy that is greater than themselves. It was time to see just how great Shirou's fantasy really was.

Unlike most Magus and Apostles, Altrouge was one that didn't mind getting her hands dirty. In fact, she truly enjoyed a good fight. Now it was time to engage in glorious hand to hand combat!

 _Click!_

"Wha…?" the sound escaped Altrouge's lips as she stared down the two barrels of anti-tank rifles that seemed to protrude out of Shirou's arms.

 **"Peekaboo,"** Shirou said in a distorted, demonic tone as all of his many eyes locked on the Altrouge.

 _Bang!_

* * *

"You did what?" Zelretch asked with a disbelieving expression on his face

Kiritsugu sighed. "I may have given Shirou a pair of anti-tank rifles for Christmas."

Zelretch stared at Kiritsugu for a few moments of intense silence.

"Why?" the Wizard Marshal drawled out.

"Oh, come on, Shirou is an eldritch deity of death and destruction," Kiritsugu explained. "What was I supposed to get him? Comic books? Nintendo?"

"Yes!" Zelretch exclaimed. "But now you've introduced the space god of death to modern weaponry!"

"Why are you so hung up on this? I thought you would have been overjoyed that I did something as crazy as this?"

"Normally, yes," Zelretch admitted. "But I wanted to do it first!"

The Magus Killer rolled his eyes. "I called it."

"I would have given him a plasma cannon," Zelretch said. "A _magical_ plasma cannon, one that shoots out laser lolis."

"Are you high right now?"

"Probably."

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?" Aoko's loud voice could be heard outside.

"Now we have _this_ to deal with," Kiritsugu deadpanned

* * *

Altrouge bent her body back at an unnatural angle to dodge a bullet flying past her. If one were to ask the True Ancestor what she thought of Shirou's weaponry right now, she'd describe them as complete _bullshti!_ The anti-tank rifles Shirou had were absolutely ridiculous, they seemed to be semi-automatic and _never run out of ammo!_

But there was one really big question that she had to ask...

"Why do these bullets hurt so much!?" Altrouge exclaimed as the large bullet holes caused by his guns closed.

Surprisingly, Shirou stopped firing when she asked the question.

" **I think it might be because I use Quicksilver Bullets,"** Shirou answered as innocently as one could when they practically had the voice of Satan. " **It's a family recipe."**

"That didn't really answer my question," Altrouge said.

" **Dad and Uncle Zelretch made me promise to never tell anyone."**

Altrouge sighed, she knew this was going nowhere fast. "Can you at least _stop_ using guns, they're very annoying."

" **Aw, but I like my guns,"** Shirou whined. " **They're so much fun!"**

A brilliant idea popped into Altrouge's mind. This personality of Shirou was that of a child, plain and simple, perhaps she could use this to her advantage. Altrouge mentally grinded as she put her full proof plan into motion.

Altrouge crossed her arms and turned her head to the side with a 'hmpf'.

"No guns or I won't play anymore," she put her master plan in full motion.

" **Aw, come on,"** Shirou whined.

"No guns,"

Shirou groaned and hung his head.

" **Fine,"** he drawled.

Black mist engulfed the rifles, one the mist was gone the guns fused into Shirou's arms disappeared, leaving only his claws.

 _"This is much better, hand to hand combat is more my speed."_ Altrouge thought as she rushed Shirou, her claws reared back to rip him apart.

Altrouge stood there confused as her claws meet only a cloud of mist and ash instead of flesh. She felt a clawed hand grip her head tightly and slammed her face into the ground causing a large crater to form in the dirt. Shirou threw Altrouge up into the air and stabbed his hand into the ground, as the True Ancestor fell, large blades erupted from the ground, impaling her.

 _"Then again, I have been wrong before,"_ Altrouge thought blandly.

* * *

Kiritsugu, Zelretch, and Aoko watched to carnage as it unfolded.

The Magus Killer and Kaleidoscope watched the two incredibly powerful beings go for each other's throats as if this was Monday for them. Well, more so Shirou than Altrouge, she was getting thrown around like a rag doll ever since the fight started.

"Um, Shouldn't we stop this?" Aoko asked.

She stared at the bundle of white fur in Zelretch's arms also known as Primate Murder and Fou. To think the distended murderer of humanity could look so cute was almost as ludicrous as the situation before them.

"Na," Kiritsugu said. "Let the kids wear themselves out."

"Oh, look, Shirou's finally using Blood Forge," Zelretch noted.

"DID YOU JUST MAKE SWORDS OUT OF BLOOD!?" they heard Altrouge yell excitedly in the distance.

" **Yeah,"** Shirou said.

"OH MY GOD, THAT'S SO GOD DAMN _COOL!_ "

"Well, we now know who Shirou's biggest fangirl is," Kiritsugu said blandly.

* * *

Altrouge dodged the blood blades sent her way, while she thought they were completely awesome, they were much slower than the guns he used earlier. As such, she was able to quickly close the distance between her and Shirou. She swung her claws at Shirou, fully expecting for him to pull his disappearing act once again. Just as she predicted, Shirou turned into a cloud of ash and mist, but what Shirou didn't expect was for Altrouge to do a full rotation, growing out a large portion of his chest cavity.

Blood dripped onto the dirt as Shirou assessed the damage. Most of his rib cage was completely destroyed, his right lung as missing, and his heart was torn to shreds.

" **Nice one,"** Shirou said as the wounds began rapidly regenerating.

Unlike True Ancestors and Dead Apostles, Shirou didn't reverse time on his injuries to heal them. No, he had legitimate, natural, regenerative abilities.

Before Shirou could fully heal himself, Altrouge cut her wrist, spilling black blood instead of red. She decided to kick thing up a notch by using her most feared ability.

The power of the Contract.

She glanced at the sky. It was a lunar eclipse, her lucky night.

"When you fully heal, you will die," Altrouge stated, the black blood on the ground turning into smoke, forcefully forming a contract with Shirou.

" **Huh?"** Shirou asked, confused.

The exact moment Shirou fully headed, he fell to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut, dead. Just like that, Shirou was completely, clinically dead.

Altrouge wasn't called the Master of Blood and Contract for nothing. The power of the Contract was one that both the Church and Clocktower agreed was _the_ most horrifyingly powerful ability The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors had at their disposal.

The concept of Contract allowed Altrouge to force a contract, like a Geass Scroll on to _whoever_ she wanted, from _wherever_ she wanted, distance did not matter. The potential amount of death this ability could cause was so outrageously, ludicrously great that even Primate Murder would get a run for its money. In fact, it was this ability over the concept of Contract that Altrouge was able to gain mastery over Primate Murder. It didn't matter if you just one person, an army, an entire country, all it took was one contract to make you drop dead. Altrouge herself couldn't use Marble Phantasm, but with the power of Contract, there were ways around such limitations.

The only limitations were how much blood she could give the Contract, the bigger scale the Contract is, the more blood that the Contract will need. The second limitation was the position of the moon. If it was a new moon, them the Contract was at its weakest. If it was the full moon, then the Contract was at its strongest. If it was a solar or lunar eclipse, then the Contract's power was multiplied tenfold.

Since tonight was a lunar eclipse, her Contracts were basically absolute.

Altrouge walked up to Shirou's corpse and picked it up by its throat, she stabbed her hand into his chest and ripped out his heart. She unceremoniously dropped Shirou's grotesque body and took out a bendy straw.

"Well, that was more annoying than fun, but it was interesting," Altrouge admitted as she stabbed the straw into Shirou heart. "Though Zelretch is going to be pissed that I killed another one of his students."

She started drinking from the heart like a juice box, sipping noise and all.

Everything turned black.

 **BGM: NieR OST - Grandma**

For a moment she found herself falling into never-ending darkness, a black void beyond all possibility.

Suddenly she spotted a red light in the darkness, almost like a beacon of hope. Like a roaring volcano, it washed over her, pure indescribable power.

 _ ***RRROOOOAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!***_

She heard an unearthly roar. Not like anything she'd ever heard before, and Altrouge had been alive for a _very_ long time, she had heard the roars of many a Phantasmal Beast and even the fiercest roar of Primate Murder. But all of them were the harmless mewling of kittens compared to this.

She then finally noticed where she was, an endless field of white flowers, snow lightly falling from the sky. An unlimited amount swords stuck in the ground as if graves.

A giant, slightly transparent crimson moon. More accurately a paleblood moon.

She turned around quickly as she heard a growl behind her, then slowly looked up.

It was made of blades.

Altrouge knew on sight that this...beast? No, not a simple beast, not even a Phantasmal Beast, those would be insults. There was simply no way to describe it in words. But she _knew_ this... _thing_ in front of her shouldn't exist.

It was an abomination. Its mere existence was blasphemous to reality itself.

It _looked_ like a dragon, but it wasn't, it was something far more powerful. The thing's visage was horrifying, a skinless body covered with black colored blades, flesh, and more eyes than any living creature should have. Veins could be seen in the metal blades, pumping blood throughout the body. Warped burning red lightning bolt-eyes shimmering with untold amounts of power. Twisted wings of blades extended, they could block the light of the moon if they were whole.

But as horrid as the thing before her was, she couldn't help but admit how _beautiful_ it was. No, beautiful was an insult. What was before her was something more alien than the Types. It was a living masterpiece of everything wrong with the world.

A being of calamity and destruction.

A blade- yes a blade!

A blade of slaughter!

The perfect murderer!

Altrouge raised her arms to the abomination as if about to hold it in a loving embrace.

The thing looked down at her, it was practically a mountain compared to her, as Altrouge reached out to it, it's maw opened wide and swallowed her whole.

Her eyes snapped open as she felt her blood begin to _sing._ Every vein, every artery in her body pulsating as if becoming alive. Her muscles spasmed and twitched. An indescribable sensation snaked through her whole body like electricity slithering around all of her nerves.

She let out a gasp and dropped the heart in her hand, she leaned on a nearby tree for support. Her eyes dilated, and trails of drool fell from her mouth. If anyone saw her like this, they would describe her as a euphoric woman.

"That...that..."

That was...shockingly pleasant. Like really, _really_ pleasant. She never felt such a good sensation in her life! It was pleasing, delightful and...and...and.

Powerful! _So Powerful!_

Her dazed mind attempted to comprehend just what happened. What happened to her!? What did she just see!?

What _madness_ had taken over her own mind!?

After a few minutes, she managed to calm down and focus. All she took was a sip a simple sip! Just what kind of power was in that child.

Never! _Never_ in her life! Never _ever_ had she tasted blood that was so...addictive.

She was brought out of her musings as she heard something behind her.

It was Shirou, he was alive. He survived _absolute death_ from Altrouge's power of Contract.

 **"You can kill me as many times as you want,"** Shirou stated emotionlessly, it was the Good Hutner. **"The hard part is** _ **keeping**_ **me dead."**

Blades began to erupt from the ground, the world around him began to glitch as Gaia did her best to reject his existence, but no matter how hard the Will of The World tried, it did nothing. In the glitches, she saw glimpses of the thing she saw in her vision.

Altrouge unconsciously took a step back, she smiled nervously. This was the very first time someone was able to survive one of her Contracts made exclusively to kill someone, not to mention they did so on a lunar eclipse. This scared her a bit, even more so now that she had an idea of what Shirou was _really_ capable of.

 _"Still cool though,"_ she thought.

 _ **I am the blade of slaughter.**_

Countless blades erupted from the ground.

Shirou grabbed the hilt of a large greatsword, as he dragged the blade across the ground it gained a greenish-blue glow.

Altrouge had no time to react as Shirou disappeared is a cloud of mist and ash. He reappeared right in front of her, giving her no time to react as he brought his glowing blade down.

A pair of hands covered with white pristine gloves grabbed both of their heads before the blade could make contact with Altrouge. Their heads were slammed into the ground with enough force to make craters, effectively knocking the two out.

"And that's enough out of you two," Zelretch said as he dusted off his clothes. "Now, now kids, it's off to bed for you go."

Zelretch received silence in response.

He raised an eyebrow. "Shirou? Altrouge!? SHIROOOOU!? ALTROOOOUGE!?"

 **An hour later at the Tohno Mansion**

Both Shirou and Altrouge sat on the sofa of the living room. The two had put on a new set of clothes to replace the torn up and covered in blood ones that they fought with.

Primate Murder, on the other hand, was sleeping on Altrouge's lap in his Fou form. Shirou was back in his human form.

"So," Kiritsugu began. "What have we learned, Shirou."

"Ah, anti-tank rifles are much better than the flintlock pistols I used to use," Shirou said innocently.

Kiritsugu smiled and ruffled Shirou's hair. "That's my boy, we'll move onto automatic weaponry on your next birthday."

Shirou gasped excitedly. "Really?"

"Of course, but you have to be patient."

"Acceptable," the emotionless Good Hunter said.

"Now, come on, off to bed you go," Kiritsugu said.

Shirou got up and left for his guest room in the mansion.

Now that Shirou was gone, all eyes locked onto Altrouge.

Zelretch spoke first. "Seriously, Altrouge, this is the _fifth_ student of mine that you've nearly killed. Well, in this case, _you_ nearly got yourself killed."

Altrouge winced at the reminder. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. What more do you want from me?"

Zelretch narrowed his eyes. "What I want is for you to stay here, where I can keep an eye on you."

"But, Zelretch!"

"Don't you, 'But Zelretch' me, what have I told you about ODing on the blood of extradimensional beings?"

"Not to OD on the blood of extradimensional beings."

"And what did you do?"

"I ODed on the blood of an extradimensional being."

"Good, now you better stay here, I need to find out the side effects of Shirou's blood on you."

Altrouge furrowed her brow. "Grandfather, just _what in the world_ is Shirou?"

"Not safe for work, that's what he is. Now get to bed before you get sent to court, I've seen the blush on your face when you look at him."

"Oh come on!" Altrouge whined. "Have you tasted his blood, do you have the slightest idea about how _good_ it is?"

"No, and I don't know, and I don't _want_ to know. Arcane is enough trouble to deal with as it is."

Altrouge pouted childishly as she got up and left to the guest room.

Aoko turned to Zelretch and Kiritsugu. "Alright, spill it, what the hell is Shirou?"

"Like I said, not safe for work," Zelretch stated. "Ask him yourself."

Aoko narrowed her eyes at the Apostle, then she sighed in exasperation.

"Fine," Aoko said. "I'll get my answers tomorrow."

Miss Blue walked off, mumbling under her breath. "He's lucky that he's such an adorable kid."

Both Zelretch and Kiritsugu were silent as they heard that. They waited until the door closed to even speak a syllable.

"Should I call the police?" Kiritsugu asked unsurely.

Zelretch rubbed his chin in thought. "No, I can use this to my advantage."

"How?"

Zelretch raised up a blue book. "I swiped this from her suitcase."

"You did _what_ now?"

Zelretch handed Kiritsugu the book. "Just read the title."

Kiritsugu read the title, he swore he was hallucinating, so he read it again. No, he wasn't hallucinating, but he wished he was.

The book's title was: Hikaru Genji Plan by Morgan le Fay.

Kiritsugu's eye twitched. "What. The. Fuck."

Zelretch gave him an understanding look. "I know, read a few pages."

The Magus Killer did as such. "Wow, this trash."

"That's why I'm replacing it with this." Zelretch held up a red book and handed it to Kiritsugu.

He opened the book and read a few pages. "This is amusing trash."

"I won't tell if you won't."

Kiritsugu nodded. "Agreed, I do not want my son ending up _that_ way."

It was then that something drastic had been agreed on by some of the two most infamous people in the world. Something that would shake the very foundation of reality.

Zelretch left the book on Aoko's dresser in her guest room when she wasn't looking.

The moonlight illuminated the red book, the blood lettering that made up the title came into view.

It read: Operation Light Novel Protagonist, now with Ichika Orimura Counter-Provision! By Nero Claudius.

Zelretch's laughter could be heard throughout the mansion that night.

Primate Murder shivered in fear.

 **Chapter End.**

 **Omake: Shirou V.S. Primate Murder: ULTIMATE HYPE MATCH!**

In an instant, Altrouge's demonic dog was right on top of Shirou, but instead of ripping him apart liked someone would expect, in a poof of smoke it changed into Fou, holding the billboard-sized picket fence it used during The Strike of 1994.

Filled with determination, Fou closed his eyes tightly and brought the billboard-sized picket fence down as Shirou as hard as his little arms could.

 _WHACK!_

"Ow!" Shirou shouted. "You broke my cup of hot chocolate, the fuck is wr-"

 _WHACK!_

"Why would you break a man's cup of hot choco-"

 _WHACK!_

"Would you stop th-"

 _WHACK!_

"You're being very rude right no-"

 _WHACK!_

"For-"

 _WHACK!_

"The-"

 _WHACK!_

"Love-"

 _WHACK!_

"Of-"

 _WHACK!_

"Fuck-"

 _WHACK!_

"Stop! Ha, I knew you'd try and cut me off the moment I said a wor-"

 _WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!\_

 _BOOM!_

 _WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!_

Fou stopped, noticing that the picket fence wasn't hitting anything but the ground now.

There was a large smoking hole in the picket fence.

Shirou was bleeding heavily from his head, holding the Church Cannon in his right hand, smoke seeping out of the firearm's muzzle. He disappeared in a cloud of ash and smoke and then reappeared in front of the small Beast of Gaia. He kicked Fou up into the air like a soccer ball and raised the Church Cannon in its face, the large firearm enveloped in a yellow mist; Bone Marrow Ash.

"To Germany with you," Shirou spoke coldly.

 _BOOM!_

Fou had disappeared in the large blast.

Shirou gave a condescending smirk. "Up, up, and away, bitch."

 **In Germany.**

A cannonball had broken through the Einzbern castle Bounded Field and into Illyasviel von Einzbern's bedroom.

The little girl was obviously shocked beyond belief at what had happened, but what surprised her more was that there was writing on the cannonball that left a hole in her wall.

 _Dear, Illyasviel von Einzbern_

 _Here's a present from dad and I, hope you enjoy._

 _Love, your little brother, Shirou Emiya._

 _P.S._

 _Look to the right for your present._

Little Illya looked to her right, her red eyes lit up with pure joy as she saw the rather dizzy and out of it Fou wobble on its feet.

Like a white rocket, she glomped the poor Beast of Gaia, unknowingly suffocating the creature into blacking out.

Primate Murder had learned a valuable lesson that day: You do not fuck with Shirou's hot chocolate time.

 **Omake End.**


	5. Signed and Sealed (Revised)

**Chapter 5: Signed and Sealed**

Kiritsugu Emiya and Raiga Fujimura looked on in amusement as Shirou and Taiga stared down one another.

Shirou was eleven years old now. His progress in Blood Forging had increased ever since his encounter with Altrouge. Especially since he now had an actual workshop.

Raiga was a good friend of Kiritsugu, that and he was the boss of the city's yakuza. No one could say that Kiritsugu didn't have friends in high places.

His granddaughter, Taiga Fujimura, usually came along with him when he went to visit Kiritsugu. Taiga was a young girl currently attending Homurahara Academy, she wore the standard uniform and had her light brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

Taiga had her eyes narrowed as she stared at Shirou's amused, mischievous gaze. Zelretch and Altrouge were not good influences on the child half of Shirou.

"They've been staring at each other for the past twenty minutes," Kiritsugu whispered to Raiga.

"I know, this happens every time she comes over," Raiga whispered back.

"Tiger," Shiro said.

"My name is Taiga." Taiga corrected, she really hated that nickname.

"Tiger," Shirou said, but with a more mischievous undertone. Messing with Taiga was one of his favorite things to do.

"Taiga."

"Tiger."

"Taiga!"

"Tiger!"

"Taiga!"

"Tiger!"

"TAIGA!"

"TIGER!"

"THAT'S IT, DOJO NOW!" Taiga finally snapped.

"BRING IT!"

Both Shirou and Taiga rushed into the dojo. Kiritsugu and Raiga could already hear the shinais swinging through the air.

"FROSTED FLAKES!" Shirou shouted.

"THEY'RE GREAT!"

"I KNEW YOU WERE A TIGER!"

"DAMMIT SHIROU!"

Raiga shook his head. "That girl is always so competitive."

"True, but that's good for someone in her youth," Kiritsugu said.

Kiritsugu started coughing violently. His health wasn't getting any better. Zelretch informed him that he would die in a few months time.

"Are you alright, Kiritsugu?" Raiga asked.

Kiritsugu gave a strained smile. "Peachy."

The Doll, Evetta, walked in with a tray of freshly made tea.

"Thank you, Evetta," Raiga said with a smile.

Raiga took his cup as drank his tea, he had known for years that Kiritsugu and Shirou were magus. Both he and Taiga were the only two normal people that knew of their status.

Besides, it didn't help that Kiritsugu didn't even bother to even try hiding the presence of magecraft in his household. To be fair, when your son is a cosmic, eldritch deity, and his teacher is a multiverse traveling vampiric troll, you kind of lose your sense of tact. And this was without the fact that Altrouge was living with them now, along with Primate Murder.

Yeah, all pretenses of them hiding magecraft from anyone who entered the house was FUBAR.

Altrouge walked into the living room with Primate Murder walking close behind. She and the large white wolf sat at the table. Victoria produced two cups filled with hot tea for the new duo at the table. Primate Murder, despite not having opposable thumbs, was still able to pick up the teacup by it's handle and dink it.

In the eyes of the future murderer of all of humanity, thumbs were overrated.

Altrouge was living with them because she quite literally could not live without Shirou's blood. Even though at the time Shirou's blood had been closer to a Kin more than anything, the damage had already been done. Both the Good Hunter and Zelretch observed the effect of Old Blood on Altrouge. They found the effects of Shirou's blood were very interesting indeed.

If Altrouge had her recommended dose of Old Blood, then she would have absolutely no need to use any of her power to suppress her bloodlust. Bloodlust was a problem for all apostles and True Ancestors; needing to sacrifice a certain percentage of their power in order to keep themselves in check. But Old Blood took away that mental handicap that plagued the apostles. She was already one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Shirou's blood brought her up to a whole new level.

Due to the amount of insight she was gaining from the Old Blood and seeing the true form of a Great One, her sanity was slowly slipping from her. Causing her to do things she wouldn't normally do. Like, live in Fuyuki with Shirou and Kiritsugu. She saw the world in a manner similar to a Great One, it was only due to her age that she didn't go fully insane.

There were other downsides though. Shirou's blood was also like a drug. If Altrouge went into "withdrawal" she would succumb to her own bloodlust without fail. Even if she used every bit of her power to suppress it, it wouldn't work. At that point, the Good Hunter and Zelretch made two theories.

One: She'd die due to not having any Old Blood in her system.

Two: Shirou's blood would mutate her into a rampaging monster comparable to a Type.

Both situations were something that Altrouge very much wanted to avoid. So, she started living with Shirou and Kiritsugu to make sure she never missed her monthly dose of Eldritch Savior Juice.

"Are Shirou and Taiga beating each other's swords again?" Altrouge asked.

Surprisingly, for a feared True Ancestor hybrid that killed thousands on a whim, she was rather innocent.

Kiritsugu turned to Altrouge with an eyebrow raised. "Would you like to rephrase that?"

"No, what was wrong with it?" Altrouge said in genuine confusion. "Did I say something wrong?"

Kiritsugu was about to explain when a portal opened up right behind him and Raiga. Zelretch came out of the portal and immediately put his arms over the shoulders of the two men.

"Don't say it, we must preserve her innocence," Zelretch whispered.

Kiritsugu knew better than to buy any of what the Wizard Marshal said at face value. He was always out to troll some poor fool.

"...So we can shatter it later and mock her for it." Zelretch finished.

Raiga nodded sagely while Kiritsugu deadpanned.

 _"And there it is."_ Kiritsugu thought.

 _"Indeed,"_ Zelretch said inside Kiritsugu's head.

 _"I'm not even going to question how you're doing this."_

 _"Best not to!"_

A few seconds later Taiga walked out of the dojo with her head hung low. She sat at the table with everyone else.

"Hey, Taiga. Shirou beat you again?" Altrouge asked.

"NO!" Taiga roared in protest.

Everyone raised several eyebrows. Each.

"...yeah." Taiga slumped back where she was sitting.

"Guys, I'm going for a walk!" they heard Shirou innocently announce.

Kiritsugu sipped his tea. After a pause, he spoke. "Oh, no."

Aoko finally walked into the living room. She spotted Taiga slumped down on her spot at the table.

"Shirou beat you again?" Miss Blue asked.

Taiga just slumped down in her seat more and groaned with anime tears streaming down her face.

Aoko rolled her eyes, but then she noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Shirou?" she asked.

"Out for a walk," Evetta answered as she handed Aoko a cup of tea.

Aoko sipped her tea. After a pause, she spoke. "Oh, no. What do you think the body count is going to be this time? I'm betting thirty."

"Three," Taiga said.

"Ten," Raiga said.

"Twenty," Kiritsugu said.

"Forty," Altrouge said.

"Three hundred," Zelretch said.

Everyone looked at Zelretch. Zelretch scanned their faces, offended. "What, you think we're living with a Care Bear here?"

* * *

Shirou's walk lead him to the local park, if not to park, he would go to the church.

Shirou had the most interesting of conversations with the priest Kirei Kotomine.

He usually took walks whenever he was thinking about something. Though he usually gets into some sort of trouble on his walks. The kind of trouble that tended to raise his body count.

On most of his walks, his thoughts lead back to his time in Yharnam. As did most of his thoughts when he wasn't knee deep in studying Blood Forging and Tracing or expanding his workshop.

The park and the church were his favorite places in town. The park because of Angra Mainyu's curses on the area. The stench of despair and anguish was so strong it permeated the very soil of the park.

It reminded Shirou of Yharnam. While thoughts of Yharnam usually let to more traumatizing memories, the park was the only place that Shirou seemed to belong.

"This place is depressing." Shirou started talking to himself. "Why did you take us here?"

"I wanted to go here, so I did," he said to himself in an emotionless voice.

"Feeling a little homesick, Good Hunter?" the child teased.

The Good Hunter was silent for a few seconds. "...Perhaps."

Shirou sighed. "We're going to have to go over the things you got from the Research Hall sooner or later."

The mere mentioning of that particular location caused a silence most mortal men would call suffocating.

The Good Hunter sighed. "A man must face his demons sometimes."

The usually innocent side of the boy gave an uncharacteristic smirk.

"Could you even call us a man?" Shirou asked.

"Who knows?" the Good Hunter replied. "Could you even call us a monster?"

"I don't like thinking like this," Shirou said.

The Good Hunter nodded. "I don't either."

He was snapped out of his musings as he heard to sounds of laughter. Sounded like kids his age if he was right. Focusing his hearing, even more, he picked up on the sound of quiet whimpering. A girl if the high pitched was any good of a sign.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh met his ear.

"Bullies," he muttered to himself.

Shirou proceeded to walk in the direction of the laughter.

He was going to stop this. He was no hero, he was a Hunter. He didn't want to be a hero. The very thought of becoming a hero was enough for Shirou to want to violently vomit out his own internal organs.

So, why was he doing this?

"Someone has to," Shirou answered his own question.

One Shirou arrived at the scene he saw four boys about a year or so older than him. They surrounded a small girl with purple hair and seemed about a year younger than him. The boys took turns kicking a shoving the exhausted girl between them, She did nothing besides putting her arms up in a feeble attempt to protect herself, almost as if she had given up on any notion of fight back.

* * *

 _It was Shirou's first time entering Yharnam, Gehrman said he had to find the Grand Cathedral if he was to truly make any progress with his Hunt._

 _As Shirou walked he found a mob of people walking by._

 _They were dressed in ragged clothes, carried an assortment of weapons. Some of them had torches and pitchforks. But they were just people hunting beasts like he was. They seemed a little weird, but surely they couldn't be that bad, right?_

 _Shirou walked up behind one of the men._

 _"Hello, sir, do you know where I can find the Grand Cathedral?" Shirou asked innocently._

 _That's when everything went to hell for young Shirou._

 _Stab!_

 _A pitchfork had been stabbed into Shirou's abdomen._

 _"W-What?" the boy said, unable to comprehend what had just happened._

 _"It's all your fault!" the man that stabbed him shouted._

 _Chop!_

 _An axe cut_ _into his shoulder. "You plague-ridden rat!"_

 _Bang!_

 _A bullet went through his knee._

 _Shirou was in so much shock he couldn't even scream as the nerves in his body blasted the sense of pain throughout his entire being._

 _The mob beat him. Stabbed him. Shot him. Burned him. Cut him._

 _Until he died and was released from his suffering. He was honestly happy that he was dead. That the pain was gone. He would never have to go through something like that ever again. And so, he was content with that, anything but that horrible pain._

 _That was Shirou's first death._

 _It was his best death._

 _Why? Because the first death makes you feel the most human. You feel the first death is truly your release from the pain._

 _Then he woke up._

 _He realized he was alive. He realized his pain would never end._

* * *

"Stop!" Shirou heard someone shout.

He glanced to his right. The purple haired girl was holding his arm back, looking at him with fear in her eyes. The arm the girl was holding back was bloody. He was holding one of the boys that were beating her by his collar. The kid was a bloody bruised mess, and groaning in pain. The other three kids were in much of the same state. They were all too injured to even try and run away.

Shirou lowered down the arm he was using the punch the kid he was holding, dropped the child he was holding, citing a cry of pain from the unfortunate boy.

The girl started slowly backing away from Shirou as he turned his attention to her. Hell, the worms in her body, stopped dead in their tracks when his gaze turned to her.

"What's your name." the Good Hunter asked.

"W-What?" she asked back, afraid and confused, she couldn't take her gaze away from his lifeless eyes.

"Your name, what is it?" the Good Hunter asked again.

"S-Sakura Matou." the purple haired girl answered shakily.

Shirou looked at Sakura for a few more seconds. Sakura fidgeted where she stood. Shirou's hollow, thousand yard stare made Sakura feel as if he was looking through her.

"Come with me." the Good Hunter sighed. "You look like skin and bones, I'll get you something to eat. I'll have to get the first aid kit too; you look like hell."

Sakura stood there in silent shock as she watched the redhead walk away.

Shirou looked over his shoulder and at Sakura, his eyes full of innocence, the complete opposite of his earlier disposition.

"You coming or what?" Shirou asked.

Sakura let out a cute "Eep!" as Shirou snapped her out of her shock and started walking quickly behind Shirou.

The two walked in an uncomfortable silence. Well, not that Shirou knew. To him, the silence was always a good thing.

"W-What's your name?" Sakura asked, shattering Shirou's beloved silence.

"Shirou Emiya." the Great One of Blades answered without a hitch.

"Why did you beat up those other kids?"

The Good Hunter stopped and turned to Sakura with his usual hollow gaze. "You were being bullied, I didn't like that, it brought some rather...unpleasant memories."

Sakura said nothing to that.

Suddenly, Shirou walked up to Sakura and brushed some of her hair away to look at the side of her face. The purple haired girl stiffened at the contact, fearing whatever he was going to do.

"Damn," Shirou began. "I was exaggerating the first time I said it, but you really do look like hell. Your head's bleeding. I'll need a better scope of your injuries. Structural Analysis."

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt the magecraft look through her body. She would have never guessed that Shirou was a magus.

"Shirou, no!" Sakura shouted in an attempt to stop Shirou.

It was too late.

All was silent, not a bird chirped, not even the wind blew. Complete and utter silence. It was the kind of silence that felt wrong like it shouldn't even happen, but does, and when it does you never knew what was going to happen. It was the kind of silence that created fear because no fear is greater than fear of the unknown.

"Who did this to you?" the Good Hunter asked, his voice completely emotionless.

Sakura looked at Shirou's eyes and flinched at just how cold they looked.

Shirou didn't like what he saw in Sakura. Countless parasitic worms inhabited her body feeding on her mana.

The parasites brought up some particularly bad memories. Specifically, Kos's washed up corpse in Fishing Hamlet. The place where his ideas completely shattered.

"Who did this to you?" the Good Hunter demanded once again, his voice much more stern this time.

"M-My grandfather," Sakura revealed shakily.

The Good Hunter stared at her, his eyes somehow even more hollow than before. "I'm going to get you patched up, and something to eat. I heard the Matou family magecraft was disgusting, but I never thought it was this...vile."

Shirou grabbed her hand and started walking back to the Emiya Estate.

Sakura noticed the Crest Worms inside of her were unnaturally still, almost as if they were afraid of Shirou's mere presence.

As their walk continued Sakura grew more and more fearful. Shirou was a magus too, so what did he gain by helping her? Was he going to use her for experiments for his own magecraft? Was he only using her for the Matou magcraft?

The questions kept piling up and each outcome was worse than the last.

She wanted to get away from him.

She needed to get away from him.

"We're here," Shirou stated.

Oh no.

"Shirou I need to go now. Grandfather is probably worried about me." Sakura said nervously.

Shirou gave a cheerful laugh as he practically dragged the poor girl into his house.

"Aoko, get the first aid kit!" Shirou shouted. "Altrouge, keep dad away from the kitchen."

Aoko herself rushed to the front door with the first aid kit. "What's wrong!?" she raised an eyebrow at the sight of the roughed up and bleeding Sakura. "Who's she?"

"Her name's Sakura," Shirou said. "If you're wondering what happened, she was being beaten up by a few other kids, I stepped in. Now let's fix her up."

Shirou pointed towards a chair. "Sakura, sit there."

The purple haired girl reluctantly did as she was told.

"I'll get a start on dinner," Shirou turned to Aoko. "Can you patch her up while I'm gone?"

"You got it," Aoko said.

Almost an hour later Shirou, Aoko, Kiritsugu, Victoria, Zelretch, Altrouge, and Primate Murder were all sitting at the dinner table with Sakura. The girl was sweating bullets.

Aoko did her best at fixing up Sakura but she wasn't very good at using bandages. The downside was that she looked like a mummy. A really adorable mummy.

She didn't know any of the people here, but she could tell that they were all very powerful in their own right.

"Eat up, Sakura," Shirou said, giving her a kind small smile. His void of the hollowness that plagued them earlier.

Sakura blushed slightly and looked down towards the food Shirou had served. Curry and rice with a side of miso soup.

"I was going to make pizza, but then I found out that we didn't have enough dough," Shirou admitted while pouting slightly.

The purple haired girl gulped nervously as she hesitantly picked up her spoon and began eating. Her eyes lit up at the first mouthful.

"This is really good!" she exclaimed as she began to eat with a ferocity that would make Taiga proud.

Aoko scoffed. "Good is an understatement, he's practically a master chief!"

"Slow down, Sakura, you're going to choke at the pace you're eating," Kiritsugu advised.

The girl in question blushed in embarrassment before she started eating at a more normal pace.

Sakura looked at everyone, they were talking, smiling, making jokes, and teasing each other. It was so...normal. She liked it, it was so much better than what she had to deal with at home.

Sakura smiled as she enjoyed the meal Shirou gave her.

Shirou put a hand on her shoulder causing her to turn to him.

"I can free you from Zouken's clutches you know." The Good Hunter stated, his voice completely serious.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "You can't, Grandfather-"

"Does not have any power over me or anyone else in this room." the Good Hunter interrupted. "I can free you from him. Trust me, I can. But first, you'll need a contract."

With an ominous smile, Shirou held out his hand. White mist covered his hand and a piece of paper appeared when the mist dissipated. It was the Hunter's Contract.

Shirou set the contract besides Sakura's meal.

"Shirou, are you sure that's a good idea?" Zelretch asked. "There's no telling what could happen if you actually go through with this."

"I don't know," the child half of Shirou said. "I just want to."

"That in and of itself is a horrible reason, Shirou," Kiritsugu said.

"Doing it anyway, Daaaaaaaad," Shirou whined.

Kiritsugu hung his head. "Oh god, he's in his rebellious phase. What did I do to deserve this?"

The Good Hunter rolled his hollow eyes and turned to Sakura who had her head tilted in confusion over that interaction. What was so dangerous about the contract?

"Sakura, hold out your hand," he said.

Sakura did as she was told and held out her hand. The Good Hunter took one of his throwing knives and make a small cut on her index finger.

She winced as the blade cut through her flesh. Once the deed was done she looked at her bleeding finger, and then back to the Good Hunter, confused as to what to do.

"Smear your blood on the dotted line at the bottom." the Good Hunter said. "This is your last chance to back out, Sakura. Once you sign the contract, there's no going back. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sakura looked at the contract and back to Shirou. She nodded. If this could get her away from the Matou household it was worth it. So without hesitation, she smeared her blood on the dotted line.

The Good Hunter's smile was almost sinister, his eyes had gone from cold and hollow to near maniacal glee.

"Good. All signed and sealed," he stated. "Now, let's begin the transfusion."

"Transfusion?" Sakura repeated nervously.

"Oh, don't you worry. Whatever happens...You may think it all a mere bad dream..."

She let out a pained yelp as she felt something stab into the side of her neck, a foreign liquid being poured into her veins.

As she blacked out, she felt cold metal on the side of her head.

 _Bang!_

Zouken was not going to be happy. That was for sure.

 **Chapter End**

 **Omake: The Greatest Weapon in The History of Forever!**

Shirou gave an insane grin as he held up his greatest creation.

It had taken countless hours work. Approximately three hours. Most of it was spent praying to Gabe Newell that this worked and those discounts on Steam.

"It's done! It's finally done!" he shouted in glee. "Zelretch, it's done!"

The entrance to Shirou's workshop slammed open.

"You finished it!?" Zelretch shouted.

"Yes, Zelretch, behold the greatest thing since Pornhub!"

Shirou held up the object in his hands. It was a blade of unparalleled beauty and power.

"The Sword of Promised Trolling: Shrekcalibur!"

"SOME-" they heard Altrouge's voice outside. "BODY," the right wall of the workshop had been crashed through by Altrouge riding on Primate Murder. "ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS MACARONI!"

 **Omake End.**


	6. Insight (Revised)

**Chapter Six: Insight**

Shirou sat in his workshop as he gave the object on the table an intense stare while rubbing his chin. He was twelve now.

He'd been at this for weeks, no matter how many times he'd used Structural Analysis on it, it never ceased to be fascinating to him.

The object in question was a beautiful golden scabbard decorated with blue enamel. It looked more like a treasure to show nobility and pompousness seeing as it was too big to fit Excalibur. Also, who makes a sheath from gold? Fairies apparently.

This was Avalon, the sheath of the legendary Excalibur.

"No matter how many time I examine it, I can't get over how disgustingly useful this thing is," Shirou said as he picked up the scabbard in his hands.

"Shirou, are you in there?" came Aoko's voice from the other side of the door.

"I'm here," Shirou said. "Come on in."

The sound of the door creaking was heard as Aoko came in.

"Shirou, what are you...working...on...now?" Aoko trailed off as she finally got a good look at the inside of his workshop.

"Shirou?" Aoko asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked around.

"Yeah?" Shirou asked back.

"Why does your workshop look like the inside of an M.C. Escher drawing?" the redhead asked.

The entire workshop had architecture that made no sense, the workshop itself resided in a black starry void with a blood red moon in the sky. There were a lot of stairs, they zig-zagged everywhere, upside down, sideways, the ways they were aligned should be impossible, but in Shirou's workshop, impossible didn't exist. Some of the stairs led to doors and others just continued off into the void.

Shirou's right arm began to morph into a twisted mockery of its former self. Black blades jutted out of his arm in various places, and the skin on the rest of his arm had peeled off, revealing the red bleeding muscle underneath. His fingers had turned into jagged, segmented blades that he could still move like regular fingers.

Unlike outside Shirou's workshop, the area around his arm didn't glitch. His workshop had been separated from Gaia's influence.

Aoko wasn't phased by this in the slightest, ever since she'd learned the truth all those years ago.

"To put a long story short," Shirou said as he began poking Avalon with his mutated hand. "Uncle Zelretch decided now was a good time to teach me Kaleidoscope, and I got bored."

"That sounds like something you'd do," Aoko said blandly, she walked over to Shirou and ruffled his red and black hair, he'd grown it out to his upper back. "Is that Avalon?"

"No!" Shirou bellowed.

Aoko gave him a bland look.

"Okay, yeah it is." Shirou caved.

"And what are you doing with it?"

"Long story short, I'm basically hacking it."

"Oh, why?"

"Do you have any idea how disgustingly useful this thing is?" Shirou asked.

"No, but I bet you're going to explain it to me."

"This gold slab here gives you healing abilities that would make Wolverine proud. As long as your brain is intact it will heal any wound short of decapitation," Shirou explained. "You're borderline immortal as long as you have the damn thing on your person."

Aoko's eyes widened. "Wow, that's completely broken."

Shirou beamed. "I know right! If I had this in Yharnam, the Hunt would have been a cakewalk."

Shirou's expression turned emotionless.

"No," the Good Hunter said. "We would have been mauled for hours on end before they decided to decapitate us."

Shirou pouted. "Ruin my fun why don't you."

Aoko frowned at the conversation between the "two". She suddenly gave Shirou a tender hug. Her fellow redhead gave her a curious look.

"What's wrong, Aoko?" Shirou asked.

Aoko sighed. "It's nothing."

Shirou gave her a blank look. "Aoko, you already told me that when a girl says that 'it's nothing,' it is most definitely something."

Aoko pouted but held Shirou closer. "I should have never listened to the advice in that book, now you're too smart for your own good."

Shirou smirked. "And proud of it, too."

Aoko sighed. "I just don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

Shirou nodded as he poked Avalon with his clawed finger a few more times.

"Did it," he said as it lost its golden glow.

"What happened?" Aoko asked.

"You see, Avalon can only have one registered wielder at a time." Shirou began. "Even if the first wielder dies, they are still registered to Avalon. In a way, I guess you could say I formatted it and now..."

Shirou poked Avalon once again. The sheath of Excalibur gave off a blinding flash of gold that made Aoko cover her eyes with her free arm. Once she blinked the spots out of her eyes, her sights settled back onto Avalon, glowing gold once more.

"I registered myself." Shirou finished with a self-satisfied smile.

Aoko sweatdropped at the implications. "Don't you think that's a bit overkill compared to what you can already do?"

Shirou looked at her blankly. "I lived in Yharnam for most of my life. If there's one thing I got out of being there, it's that _there's no such thing_ as overkill."

Aoko just sighed and ruffled his hair once again. "Come on, Sakura and Altrouge want to talk to you but couldn't find where you were. Altrouge's getting a little...peckish. You know how she is when she hasn't had your blood in a while."

She released her hold on Shirou and he got out of his chair, Avalon in hand.

"I'll get right on it. I just hope that she doesn't try to eat Sakura...again." Shirou said as he left the room, leaving Aoko by herself.

Aoko shook her head and sighed, she looked back to Shirou's workspace in his rather...expansive workshop. She noted the Trick Weapons on the small table Shirou was working with Avalon on.

She grabbed the handle of the Saw Cleaver. Her eyes bore into the instrument of death as she traced the flat of the blade with her fingers.

Aoko wasn't the same person she used to be ever since that fateful night she learned the truth about Shirou.

* * *

 _ **Misaki Town, four years ago**_

 _Aoko tapped her fingers on the dining table impatiently. It was the morning after Shirou and Altrouge had their little...scuffle._

 _Okay, maybe "scuffle" was the wrong word. She had the strangest urge to dub their fight The Ultimate Hype Match. Yeah, that wasn't happening._

 _At long last Shirou, Zelretch, Kiritsugu entered the dining room, along with the redheaded twins Kohaku, and Hisui. They were all carrying plates of food as they entered._

 _Kiritsugu gave Shirou a blank look. "Why didn't you let me help cook?"_

 _Shirou gave his father an equally blank look. "Because the last time I let you help me cook, I had to fight off an eldritch abomination made of **spaghetti**! I'm fifty percent sure that was a Great One!"_

 _An invisible arrow pierced Kiritsugu's heart._

" _Ugh!" the Magus Killer shouted in metaphorical pain._

 _Kohaku and Hisui giggled at Shirou's cutting words._

" _Typical Kiritsugu," Hisui said, as both she and her sister started giggling again._

 _Another invisible arrow went through went through Kiritsugu's heart._

" _Why?" he said slowly, he seemed close to crying._

 _Zelretch looked off to the side, he seemed paler than usual. The expression on his face was that of a man that had seen some shit._

" _Palms were sweaty, knees weak, monsters should **never**_ _be made of spaghetti!" the Wizard Marshal said in genuine horror._

" _Dammit Zelretch, not you too!" Kiritsugu shouted, betrayed._

 _Shirou set down a plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns in front of Aoko. Along with a rather old looking notebook._

" _Shirou," Aoko called out as she observed the notebook, the air around it was distorted, making it kind of hard to see correctly. "What's this?"_

 _She felt her heart stop as she was met with the boy's blank, thousand yard stare. To Aoko, his gaze felt like it was looking into her soul._

" _Uncle Zelretch said you wanted answers." Shirou motioned towards the book in her hand. "There they are."_

 _Kiritsugu gave Shirou a worried look, as did Kohaku, and Hisui. It seemed the twins had some experience with Shirou when he got like this._

" _Shirou," the boy's dead gaze lightened up as he turned to his father. "Why don't you go ahead and give Akiha her breakfast. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."_

" _Okay," Shirou said emotionlessly._

 _He picked up a particular plate and was proceeded to be dragged off by Kohaku, and Hisui._

" _Hurry up, Shirou!" Hisui cheerfully exclaimed. "I want to play that new game Zelretch brought over. Castlevania or whatever."_

" _This castle is a creature of Chaos," Shirou said in deadpan as he got dragged off. "It may take many incarnations."_

 _Zelretch snorted at that line. The Dead Apostle shook his head and turned to Aoko._

" _I suggest you read in that journal in your room," Zelretch said as head left with Kiritsugu._

 _The Wizard Marshal turned back one last time and looked Aoko right in the eyes, with an ominous smile._

" _You really should be careful, Aoko, I've heard enlightenment can drive you mad," he said with a knowing smile. "I recommend you read that a few hours **after**_ _breakfast, you'll lose it if you don't."_

 _Miss Blue raised an eyebrow at Zelretch's words, they didn't make much sense, but she kept them in mind. She eyed the notebook Shirou left on the table a few times as she ate, the distortion around it made her eyes hurt slightly. All throughout her meal she never touched the book, it gave off a small sense of foreboding._

 _Once done with breakfast, she reached out for the book. The moment her hand touched it she heard the echoing roars of countless blood crazed beasts, and endless unintelligible whispers from every direction._

 _Aoko pulled her hand back quickly, her breath quickened, as did her heart rate. She stared at the notebook wide-eyed in slight fear, but mostly confusion._

" _What...the hell...was that?" Aoko asked no one through her breaths._

 _Without thinking, Aoko grabbed the notebook, doing all she could to ignore the all of the roars and whispers, and walked as quickly as she could to her guest room in the Tohno Mansion, locked the door, and quickly set up a silencing Bounded Field. She then tossed the notebook on the small desk in her room. She took a moment to gather her wits before grabbing a chair, sitting down, and mentally preparing herself to read whatever this book was._

 _She gulped as she opened the book to a random page. She was very much regretting this decision, but her curiosity got the best of her._

 _ **I found the birthplace of the Hunters, Byrgenwerth.**_

 _ **I don't know what's even going on anymore. Well, I guess I never really even knew what was going on from the beginning. Everyone in this damn place has transformed into some kind of insect people, and whatever in the world was outside the school.**_

 _ **I found Provost Willem. I wanted to see if I could get any answers out of him, I couldn't even get a word out of him. He's too far gone. I'm sitting next to him right now.**_

 _ **I'm surprised I haven't died yet, that and I'm also just as surprised that he hasn't started shooting lasers at me yet like those things clinging onto the buildings and those weird glowing wiggly flower things. Must be the Caryll Runes I put on myself, that and the Blood Gems. Grandpa Gehrman said, always to improve and upgrade my arsenal.**_

 _ **I haven't really seen any beast here worth mentioning. But that Numbing Mist I got from the Messengers worked wonders on Vicar Amelia. I'm not sure how well it'll work on whatever's here, I can feel something dreadful just right around the corner.**_

 _ **Willem keeps pointing towards the lake. Maybe I should take a dip, I don't know. Either way, if I die, I'll just come back.**_

 _Aoko grabbed her head in pain as various images flashed through her mind._

 _An odd-looking man in robes. Another odd looking man in a wheelchair. Odd symbols. Gems made of crystallized blood. An old school. Mutated, insect-like men. A creature she couldn't quite describe. Some kind of large, white, wolf-like creature with antlers on its head. Small white, things in a bird bath. Massive multi-armed creatures hanging onto the sides of buildings._

" _What was that!?" Aoko shouted as the pain stopped._

 _She didn't understand a single thing that just happened. She didn't even understand what the things mentioned in the notebook where._

 _Blood Gems? Caryll Runes? Byrgenwerth? Who in the world were Gehrman, Provost Willem, and Vicar Amelia?_

 _The images that flashed through her head only added to the confusion._

 _Those large multi-armed creatures really caught her attention. Aoko had never heard of a member of the Phantasmal Species that was anything like it. But as she tried to bring the image of the creature back to the front of her mind, a sharp pain erupted through her head._

 _Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to open to a random page. She should have started for the beginning._

 _She flipped to the first page._

 _ **My name is Shirou.**_

 _ **That was one of the three things I remembered when I awoke in the Hunter's Dream. The second was a city on fire. The third was dying. After that, Grandpa Gehrman has been training me to be a Hunter. It was hard, but soon enough he taught me all he could. The rest could only be gained from the hunt.**_

 _ **So, here I am, finally in Yharnam. Killed my first beast are a few deaths. I met a nice man called Gilbert. He said I should write down my thoughts to cope with what's happened to me so far. He's sick, I hope the Healing Blood of the Church will be able to cure him.**_

 _ **Honestly, I don't really know what to do. Gilbert said my best bet is to head for the Healing Church.**_

 _ **Might as well rid the city of some beast on the way, I'm a Hunter now, after all, it's for my own good.**_

 _More images flashed through Aoko's head, and this time there was noticeably less pain._

 _A Victorian city. Shirou dragging his body through the Fuyuki fire. That strange old man in a wheelchair again. The silhouette of a man behind a window. A large cathedral shrouded in mist. A large wolf-like beast, larger than any man, it was similar to the white one she had seen in the previous entry, but it was much smaller._

 _The image that got her attention the most was what she believed was The Hunter's Dream. The whole place was a graveyard. A cobblestone path led to a small cabin, and field of graves and flowers. It was beautiful in a somber way._

 _It seemed that Shirou took the occupation of a Hunter, and these Hunters fight "beast", but this couldn't be right at all, Shirou was eight years old, he may be powerful enough to go head to head with the hybrid Altrouge, but no one in their right mind would trust a **child**_ _with this kind of duty, would they?_

 _Another image flashed through her mind._

 _A young teenager with rust-red hair, wearing the long black coat, with a hat with withered feathers, and a face mask. He held a saw-like weapon in one hand and an old flintlock pistol in the other._

" _Was that Shirou?" she asked out loud._

 _She flipped to the next page._

 _ **I ran into another nice person on the way to the Healing Church.**_

 _ **Her name's Eileen, she wore some kind of crow themed garb. Called herself "A Hunter of Hunters," She told me that no human beings were left in the city, just flesh-hungry beasts. I can't think like that, people like Gilbert are depending on me to save them from the Scourge of The Beast. What kind of hero would I be if I just killed everything I saw left and right.**_

 _ **She told me where I could find the Healing Church and sent me on my way. I hope she stays safe.**_

 _ **But for now, a Hunter must hunt.**_

 _The image of a woman wearing a plague doctor mask and a black feather garb came into her mind._

" _That's Eileen I guess," Aoko said._

 _She flipped to the next page. There were a few drops of blood on the page, they gleamed as if fresh._

 _ **I found a little girl.**_

 _ **She asked me to find her mother, her father was apparently a Hunter like myself. She gave me a music box, she said it has one of her father's favorite songs, and that they play it whenever he forgets them to make him remember. She told me that her mother wore a red jeweled brooch.**_

 _ **The same jeweled brooch right next to me, covered in the blood of her own mother, murdered by her father who became drunk on the blood of the Hunt. The same father who helped me fight that thing on that giant beast on the bridge. He turned into a beast during our fight. He TURNED into a beast! Gehrman never told me anything about this, people turning into beasts, what the hell is going on!?**_

 _ **Is this how beasts are made? What does it? Why does it happen? I'm so confused!**_

 _ **I'm going to give the jewel back to the girl, she deserves to know what happened. My hands are wet with the blood of her father, but if I can save her from the Hunt, it's worth it.**_

 _One part of Aoko's mind knew she should stop reading, no she should have left the book alone the second she knew something was wrong with it. But she wanted to know the truth about Shirou, and she would follow through with that decision._

 _Despite her conviction to always follow through with her decisions, she would regret this for the rest of her life, but she'd live with it, those who are granted eyes on the inside either go mad or find a way._

 _For their eyes are yet to open._

* * *

Aoko grit her teeth as the memories came to the front of her mind. She had lost faith in nearly everything she believed in that day. She still very much believed in the "value of life", it was the reason she was still here with Shirou after all. But she couldn't help but feel...doubtful. What use was the "value of life" to someone who lived in a world were their own lives and the lives around them had no meaning.

She set the Saw Cleaver back onto the table and walked out of the workshop.

The eyes of the many abominations made of flesh and blades that guarded the workshop followed her movements until the door closed.

 **Chapter End**

 **Okame: AVALON!**

"You," Shirou from the "Blade Borne" universe said as he points to the reader. "Yeah, you! Has this ever happened to you?"

 _Blade Borne_ Shirou pointed a remote towards the large T.V. behind him. It turned on showing the scene from the original Fate/Stay Night of Shirou getting stabbed by Lancer through the heart.

"Well, then you need Avalon!" Shirou exclaimed in glee as he raised up the golden sheath. "The regeneration sensation sweeping the nation!"

 _Blade Borne_ Shirou crossed his arms. "Ever lost an arm?"

The T.V. showed Shirou in Unlimited Blade Works slicing off Gilgamesh's arm.

"Been nearly torn in half?"

The T.V. showed the scene of Shirou in canon Fate/Stay Night almost torn in half after his first encounter with Berserker.

"Covered in the mud of the Holy Grail?"

The T.V. shows Gilgamesh from Fate/Zero having the mud of the Holy Grail spilled on him.

"Attacked by some bitch ass troll of a priest?"

The T.V. showed Rin injured by Kirei Kotomine.

"Avalon can fix that lickity split!" _Blade Borne_ Shirou tapped the T.V. with the golden sheath cause golden sparkles to flow over the screen healing all both Shirou, Gilgamesh, and Rin in their respective situation.

Gilgamesh, seeing that his arm was now back, grabbed Ea with both arms.

"Enuma Elish!" he shouted and that world's version of Shirou was consumed in a red maelstrom of energy.

 _Blade Borne_ Shirou deadpanned at the sight. "That's unfortunate."

In the scene where Shirou was almost cut in half, noticing he was healed got back up and ran head first towards Berserker.

"I'M A HERO!" he shouted only to meet the same fate once again.

 _Blade Borne_ Shirou deadpanned. "That fucking idiot, you're not getting healed again. I can't believe you're a version of _me!_ "

Rin in her situation, she just looked very confused.

 _Blade Borne_ Shirou turned back to the viewer and grinned. "To order, call 1-800-Fuck-you-Arthur-I'm-so-done-with-your-white-knight-faggatry! Order Avalon today!"

He turned to the side. "Alright, Cthulhu, where's my fucking money? And don't you pull that 'Foreigner Servant' shit with me. I HAVE GOOGLE MOTHERFUCKER!"

* * *

Shirou, Rin, and Artoria from the canon Fate/Stay Night world all looked at the T.V. with disbelieving expressions.

That was the most outrageous thing they'd ever seen. The only thing topping it was the fact that the "Shirou" on screen was a completely different version of him, with black and red hair, and reddish eyes. Guy seemed like he lost his marbles.

Shirou raised up his phone.

"Shirou, don't you _dare_ order that," Artoria said with a dangerous tone.

Shirou casted a disheartened expression, he wanted two.

They all blame Zelretch.


	7. Omake: Opposites Meet

**Well, sup guys, this is not chapter seven.**

 **...and everyone's gone.**

 **Welp, this is an Omake made to hold everyone over until I actually get off my ass and write the next chapter...if I don't keep making more new fics.**

 **Well, the context of this Omake is that** _ **Blade Borne**_ **Shirou here is from AFTER the Fifth Holy Grail War and after the canon end of A Blade Borne to Kill meeting with Shirou after Good the end of Unlimited Blade Works.**

 **Have fun, there will be memes.**

 **Omake: Opposites Meet**

The man known as Shirou Emiya had been through many things throughout his life.

He survived the aftermath of the Fourth Holy Grail War. Survived participating in the _Fifth_ Holy Grail War. Bested a possible future version of himself who was a Counter Guardian. Acquired a Reality Marble. Had one of _the_ most broken forms of magecraft in the Moonlit World. Went to the Clocktower for a few years and was former lovers with the head of the Tohsaka family and the Saber Servant from the Holy Grail War.

Former because he basically pushed everyone away in his single-minded pursuit of becoming a hero without regrets.

Unfortunately, none of that prepared him for meeting _another_ version of himself while he was trying to cross a desert to help stop a war in Afghanistan.

"Really?" his black-haired red-eyed counterpart asked. "Did you really just say that you left Rin and Artoria behind just to go on this 'Hero Crusade' of yours?"

"Yes," Shirou confirmed. This was the fifth time his counterpart had asked him the exact same question. "I just got done explaining this...again."

"I'm sorry," Shirou's counterpart apologized. "I'm just not sure if it was the fact that my mind is was elevated far beyond any Earthly being, or that fact that I constantly experience _infinity_ ever since I became a Great One, but I just can't comprehend what the fuck you just told me."

"I don't see how hard it is to understand," Shirou said irritably. "I left them because I didn't want them getting involved in this. This is the path I chose, I'll walk it without regrets. Besides, they'll forget about me sooner or later."

His black haired counterpart sighed. "My god, you're a complete idiot." he looked Shirou right in the eyes. "Okay, leaving the people you care about most to keep them away from those that would harm and or use them against you. Sounds good on paper, but listen to me, you, Rin, and Artoria grew closer together in ten days than people do in years. The three of you honestly, truly _love_ each other. Do you have any clue the heartbreak they'll go through? That they _are_ going through right now!?"

Shirou's eyes narrowed at his counterpart. "They're stronger than that."

He looked at Shirou with pitiful eyes. "You know just how much you hurt them with this stunt of yours. They're probably uprooting the Clocktower looking for any info on where you are as we speak. It's only a matter of time before they find your dead corpse hanged like Archer."

Shirou flinched, his counterpart was right, he knew just how much his actions had hurt Rin and Artoria. He knew where it led, but this was the path he chose. His dream was to be a hero of justice. He swore to walk this path without regrets. Even if he knew how grim the end would be.

Shirou's eyes widened as he dodged an incredibly fast slash.

"The hell are you doing!?" Shirou shouted, his counterpart now had an oversized scythe in his hands.

"I might as well save those two the trouble of finding you and drag your damn corpse to them!" his counterpart shouted in rage.

Unknown to Shirou, his counterpart was an eldritch god far beyond human understanding, but even so, Great Ones were the most peculiar of the eldritch species due to how human they acted. Every Great One is _destined_ to lose their children, their only family. So, to throw away the people that care about you greatly for such petty dreams made the Great One seeth with fury. Even so, it wasn't that Shirou did what he did, it was that the Great One _understood_ why he did it. After all, he did it himself when he was human.

But that just made him angrier.

Shirou Traced Kanshou and Bakuya. He tried Tracing that scythe his counterpart had, but it gave him the same reaction he had when he saw Ea for the first time. That scythe was a Divine Construct, or at least something similar. How in the world did he get his hands on it?

His counterpart lunged and swung his scythe down, aiming to split Shirou's head in two. Shirou stepped back and raised up his blade to defend against the scythe. Unfortunately, the Traced Noble Phantasms were sliced in two the moment they made contact with his counterpart's weapon.

All was silent, as his counterpart just stared at the broken blades turning back into prana.

"Really?" _Blade Borne_ Shirou asked blandly. "Is this the best your Tracing can do?"

Shirou had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "It's the best I can do, everything I Trace goes down a rank! Didn't Archer do the same thing in _your_ Holy Grail War?"

"Yes, and it was just as disappointing. You know what fuck it, I'll give you a free shot. I'll feel bad if I don't give the illusion of a fighting chance."

Shirou sweatdropped, was he really just giving him a free hit know full well what he's capable of? Then again, if he was this disappointed by his and Archers Tracing abilities, then he probably had something much better.

 _ **I am the bone of my sword.**_

Shirou quickly Traced a familiar black bow and Caladbolg II, he aimed the weapon of mass destruction right at his counterpart's face.

"Ah, Caladbolg II, that takes me back." _Blade Borne_ Shirou said nostalgically.

Shirou unleashed the Fake Spiral Sword on his counterpart, the modified arrow twisted through space itself to get to the Great One instantly.

 _Boom!_

A large explosion went off, completely engulfing the Great One. Sand went everywhere, creating a large sandstorm. It didn't last very long though.

Shirou kept his guard up. No regular human or magus could survive that kind of attack.

"Wow," a voice came from the smoke. "I thought this desert couldn't get any hotter."

No, there's damn way he survived that. The only one Shirou knew that could pull something like that off was Berserker, and he's dead.

The Great One walked out of the smoke and flames without a scratch. "Just bring out your damn Reality Marble already. This is getting pathetic."

" _This is ridiculous!"_ Shirou shouted in his mind. " _That was the most destructive Noble Phantasm I had, how did he survive!?"_

He had no choice but to listen to his counterparts advice. Bring out his Reality Marble.

 _ **I am the bone of my sword.**_

 _ **Steel is my body and fire is my blood.**_

 _ **I have created over a thousand Blades.**_

 _ **Unaware of loss,**_

 _ **Not aware of gain.**_

 _ **Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival.**_

 _ **I have no regrets. This is the only path**_

 _ **My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works.**_

Blue illusionary flames consumed the area and brought them into the world of limitless blades.

 _Snap!_

The sound went off. Suddenly Shirou felt very nauseous.

Footsteps echoed throughout the world as the Great One of Blades walked ever closer.

"You see, Shirou," he began. "While Unlimited Blade Works is one of the most broken non-Noble Phantasm things in the world. You don't whip it out against the Eldritch God of Blades who just so happens to _be_ you from an alternate universe."

Suddenly, countless blades and Noble Phantasms clouded the sky, all of them pointing towards Shirou.

"Ugh, the amount of Noble Phantasms here is pitiful. Here let me fix that."

Without warning, thousands of nameless blades transformed into Noble Phantasms that Shirou had never seen before. But from what Shirou could see through his Reality Marble, his counterpart _made_ most of these.

"Now Shirou," the Great One began. "Let me tell you something about myself. I gave up on that hero dream a long, long time ago. When fighting monsters, I became one myself and embraced it. When looking into the abyss, the abyss looked back and I proceeded to stab it in its smug as fuck face."

Every single weapon flipped over so that the hilts were facing Shirou.

"To save Rin and Artoria the trouble of punishing your dumb ass, I'll do it myself." the Great One declared as he took a step back. "Behold! The true power of this Reality Marble! UNLIMITED HILT WORKS!"

All of the hilts began rocketing towards Shirou.

"OH SHIT!"

 **One brutal beating later.**

Shirou groaned in pain as he laid on the hot sand of the desert. His body was covered in bruises and blood.

"So, Shirou, what have we learned?" The Great One questioned as if a teacher.

"Do not underestimate the hilt of a sword. Especially when there are a countless number of them aimed at your crotch," he said in a high pitched voice.

"What else?"

"Deploying a Reality Marble against an Eldritch God is a very a bad thing."

"Good. Now, stay still. The doctor is going to work."

"What do you mean you're going to- AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Pain almost beyond getting hit in the crotch with a thousand hilts surged through Shirou's body.

"The hell did you do to me!?" Shirou asked.

"I just took out this." the Great One held up a familiar golden scabered.

"Y-You removed Avalon from my body!?"

"Yes," the Shirou's counterpart said as his fingers changed into twisted claws that began poking the scabered.

"Why!?"

"Because I can, now stop crying you big baby, you'll get it back soon," he said.

Shirou laid there on the hot sand, the sun mercilessly casting its rays onto his body. The heat was close to intolerable.

"Why did you throw away your dream?" Shirou asked.

The Great One stopped and glance at Shirou before going back to whatever he was doing with Avalon.

"Let's just say that the place I grew up in wasn't very nice," he said simply. "It wasn't a place for heroes. A dream like that dies when you realize that there is no saving anyone. Even when that ideal breaks, the journey becomes that much harder because you don't have anything to fight for."

After a few more metallic clicks, Shirou's counterpart put Avalon back inside of him.

"Huh?" Shirou made a confused sound as Avalon began healing him at an incredible rate.

"Long story short, I formatted Avalon and registered you instead of Artoria," his counterpart explained. "You're now practically immortal as long as no one decapitates you."

"Why?" the question was simple. He didn't have a clue why he'd help him in the first place.

"Because I don't want Rin and Artoria to cry their eyes out over you," he said. "Don't weep for the stupid, you'll be crying all day."

Shirou knew there was a deeper meaning to what he said, but didn't push the subject further.

"What now?" Shirou asked. "You could have killed me at any time, what's the point of letting me live if you hate me so much."

The Great One took a seat next to Shirou.

"You're right, I hate you, but I understand you," he explained. "You seek to be a hero as atonement for surviving the disaster our father caused. Never allowing yourself to feel joy because you believe you don't deserve it. An ever willing martyr. That's why you left Rin and Artoria, didn't you? You didn't feel like you deserved them. You felt like they deserved more than what you could give them."

Shirou didn't give an answer, his silence was more than enough.

"Trying to live a life with no regrets on the path to become a hero is impossible. You're not living with regrets, you're running away from them. When you meet the end, when your life flashes before your eyes, you will regret and despair more than you can imagine."

"Then what do I do?" Shirou asked.

Everything his counterpart said was right. He was an idiot thinking he could go through this path without regrets. He'd just end up like Archer, maybe even worse. He was going to fail just like him.

Just another Faker.

"Personally, I'd drag you back to Rin and Artoria and have you beg them for forgiveness," the Great One said, as he brought out a few Noble Phantasms inspecting them. "But since you're so dead set on this hero business of yours, I'll just make sure you don't die."

"How sweet of you." the Faker deadpanned.

"Yes, now get off your ass, we got places to go, shit to do." he began walking away.

Shirou sighed and got up from his spot in the sand and followed the eldritch god.

"Where are we heading?" Shirou asked.

"No clue," the Great One admitted. "I'm sure we'll find something interesting where ever we end up."

 **Monster Hunter World - Bazelgeuse**

Suddenly, there was a loud roar, that sounded close to a classic air raid warning siren.

"The hell was that!?" Shirou yelled.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that I brought one of my familiars along for the ride." the Great One said. "It's mostly comprised of pure hate, can survive of the salt of others, has a slight amount of sadism, and the power of pure fuck you is located squarely in the brain."

 _Boom!_

Shirou had no time to scream as a large pine cone-shaped wyvern with a large wingspan dive-bombed his location.

"I forgot to mention that he has a tiny amount of love for the Spanish Inquisition."

"I didn't expect that," Shirou said, his voice muffled due to being flung many meters away and being face first in the sand.

The Great One of Blades smirked. "Often times they never do."

 **Omake End**


	8. The King of Heroes

**Chapter Seven: The King of Heroes**

"' _The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!_ '" Shirou read out loud. "The fuck am I reading right now? I've seen reality explode and I _still_ can't comprehend this!"

Shirou was in a church at the moment, it was mostly empty, the only other occupant being the local priest.

The man looked like what you'd expect of a man of the Lord. He wore black vestments and a navy blue cassock with a golden cross around his neck. He was a solid six foot three and was around his mid-twenties.

He was someone Shirou was very familiar with since he was ten years old.

The priest sighed. "Shirou, it's a nonsense poem, what were you expecting?"

Shirou closed the book. "Fine, nonsense poem, you win this round. Kirei, why did you give me this frustrating _thing_?"

"Are you frustrated?"

"Yeah,"

"That's why," he answered.

Shirou deadpanned at Kirei. "You vex me, my sociopathic friend."

"Hello Pot, I'm Kettle." the priest smirked.

The boy known as Shirou Emiya had started visiting the church three years ago. Kirei never really got a concrete explanation as to why he always stopped by.

" _I don't know it feels...homey, I guess."_

That was the only explanation given to him.

Whenever he'd stop by Shirou would either sit there quietly for a few hours or try to strike up some kind of conversation. Mostly mundane things, Kirei would usually ignore the boy's one-sided ramblings. But then one day, he asked something that struck a chord with him.

" _...Ever felt like there was nothing to live for?"_

The average person might say Shirou Emiya was quite the enigma. Split personality, dark sense of humor, and had a talent for messing with people. If one were to ask Kirei Kotomine, it was like looking into a mirror. Just like Kirei, Shirou didn't have a sense of purpose, or one could say he didn't really have anything to live for.

Shirou's split personality threw most people for a loop, Kirei was not most people. He knew a coping mechanism when he saw one.

Others had visited his church to check up on Shirou from time to time. Miss Blue, the Kaleidoscope, Eclipse Princess of Black Blood, the heir to the Matou family, and his father… Kiritsugu Emiya.

Truly, the had quite the following. But all of them seemed to believe that it was the "Child" that was the real personality of Shirou, but Kirei knew better.

After all, it takes an empty person to know one.

"So, should I schedule another _playdate_ with you and Caren again?" Kirei asked, smiling like the devil he was.

"No!" Shirou shouted in a panic. "A thousand times no! Your daughter is crazy!"

Two years ago Kirei had offhandedly told Shirou about his daughter, Caren Hortensia. Shirou started asking questions and joking asked for a playdate. Shirou didn't know that one does not simply joke around with Kirei Kotomine. The very next day Kirei brought over his daughter, she only one Shirou had ever met that could fluster him at all. It didn't help that Caren did it constantly just because she thought Shirou being a blushing wreck was funny.

Every once in a while Kirei would drop by the Emiya residence unannounced to let the eldritch monster that is Shirou Emiya be toyed around with by his daughter.

One could say on that fateful day, Kirei Kotomine was a proud father.

Kirei raised an eyebrow. "And we're not?"

"I… ah… fair enough." Shirou begrudgingly admitted. "I just can't… handle her, I guess."

"Oh, you're thinking that far into the relationship, are you?" he teased. "Ah, when a boy becomes a man."

Messing with Shirou was always fun, finding ways to make the mask he always wore slip was even more entertaining.

Shirou rolled his eyes. "To think a man of God would be so willing to marry off his daughter."

"Well, you do have her father's blessings."

Shirou shook his head and got up. "Well, I better get going. I'll make sure to drop by later to give you some homemade mapo tofu."

"Much appreciated, Shirou."

Kirei watched as Shirou exited the church. His eyes narrowed as he watched the door shut.

"Kiritsugu Emiya, just what in the world did you find in that fire?"

* * *

 **BGM: Genocyber OST 1: 05. Encounter**

Sakura Matou expected many things when she signed the contract Shirou gave her.

Getting a bullet through her head was not one of them. Waking up in a different dimension was not one of them. Having no Crest Worms in her body was not one of them.

She gazed at the sky of the Dream. Darkness, an unending abyss lay above her, not a star or a cloud. Save for the red moon, nothing could be seen. Yet even without a single cloud in the sky, snow gently fell from the dark heavens.

An odd ornate blade was in the purplette's hand, a saber with a detachable dagger on the end of the hilt.

These blades, the Rakuyo, was another thing she did not expect. She was no longer an ordinary magus, she was a Hunter.

She gazed at the land below. Beautiful glowing, white flowers covered the land, infinite swords peppered the endless field of flowers as she stood atop a hill of flowers and blades.

She had grown over the years of being trained as a Hunter by Shirou. Training usually being a spar which usually ended with her dying being sliced to bits, riddled with gunshots, exploded, or all of the above.

Better than the worms though. _Far_ better. At least Shirou was quick about it.

Shirou Emiya was an odd person.

" _Not that I'm any better,"_ she thought.

" _...Ever felt like there was nothing to live for?"_

The words repeated in her head.

The average person might say Shirou Emiya was quite the enigma. Split personality, dark sense of humor, and had a talent for messing with people. If one were to ask Sakura Matou, it was like looking into a mirror. Just like Sakura, Shirou didn't have a sense of purpose, or one could say he didn't really have anything to live for.

Shirou's split personality threw most people for a loop, Sakura was not most people. She had been put through hell for most of her life.

Zouken Matou was a monster who threw her in a pit filled with carnivorous worms that violated her body for days on end.

Shinji was a self-absorbed idiot that didn't know when to shut up. She'd strangle him to death if she could.

Her father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, never had time for her, but when it came to her sister, Rin, he suddenly had all the time in the world, he sold her to the monster called Zouken.

Her mother, Aoi Tohsaka, Sakura hated her for doing nothing when her father sold her off to Zouken.

And Rin, Sakura hated her more than all of them. While Rin was reading books and learning magecraft, Sakura had every inch of her body violated by worms. When she worked herself to the bone for just a mere _second_ of their father's time, she got everything. Why did she have to suffer while her sister got everything she wanted?

She hated Rin Tohsaka with every fiber of her being.

She hated her.

Hated her. Hated her. Hated her. HATED HER! HATED HER! HATED HER! **HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE!HATE! Kill her! KILL HE-**

Sakura immediately squashed the rage in her mind. Her fists clenched so hard that she drew blood, even some cracks were in the Rakuyo's handle.

She took in a very deep breath and sighed.

" _Almost gave into my bloodlust again,"_ she sighed again.

Kariya Matou was the only one of her entire family that she had any respect for. He was a fool, a naive fool. A fool that gave his life, that gave everything, just to try and save her. And that fool was the only one she had any love for in her...family.

Then there was Shirou. She loved him, from the bottom of her heart, she loved him. When she was at her lowest, he appeared, he saved her, took care of her. Was angry for her, feed her. He gave her a way out. She'd have to be insane to reject the offer.

They were the same, that shy act she always up put in public was always a way to fool everyone from seeing the tortured little girl on the inside. Shirou, his "Hunter" personality was a way to cope with what had happened to him in the Hunt, to make everyone look away from the "Child". He didn't want to be hurt anymore.

Both of them were empty, they had no place in the world.

No, that was wrong.

Sakura stabbed the Rakuyo into the ground and walked down the hill of blades, following the sound of soft breathing.

It was made of blades. Colossal in its size. A single one of its razor sharp claws dwarfed her in size. Something of this magnitude shouldn't have existed. The very sight of the creature would cause madness in any lesser human being.

But for Sakura, she felt at peace. She had nothing to fear from the sleeping eldritch creature.

She put her hand on the head of the Great One. Instantly, hundreds of red, eldritch eyes opened across the body of the creature and stared right at her.

The purple-haired girl smiled lovingly at the eyes.

To her, those eyes were the epitome of beauty. Nothing, not even the most lovely of jewels could match them.

She turned around and sat down, her back resting against the creature's lower jaw. Despite the fact that nearly every part of the monster was made of blades, not a single edge so much as broke her skin. In fact, the metal bent and warped around her, it was soft to the touch, almost like feathers.

All it would take is one simple movement from the eldritch creature and she'd be dead.

But he wouldn't, she knew he wouldn't.

This was her place in the world. This was where she belonged.

Her eyes closed as the creature's breathing lulled her to sleep.

As long as she had him, Shirou Emiya, The Great One of Blades, she had her place in the world.

* * *

Thirteen-year-old Shirou Emiya Stared at the grave in front of him sadly.

 _Here lies Kiritsugu Emiya._

"It's been over two years, dad." the Great One said somberly. "Sorry I haven't come to visit in so long, I've just had a lot on my mind as of late. Kirei's still being an ass, so that's not too different. Sakura's training is going splendidly, she's a damn prodigy I tell you. Aoko is as clingy as ever, she gets our cases whenever we do something stupid. Once she gets going, I swore I never hear the end of it. Altrouge and Sir Fluffles are as crazy as ever."

The cold wind picked up, making Shirou's black coat flutter in the air. Shirou was wearing the black coat from his Hunter Garb, a plain white shirt, and blue jeans. It was simple, but he liked simple.

"Looks like winter is coming soon," Shirou noted.

It was at times like this that his mind would drift to that moment two years ago

* * *

 _Shirou sat on top of the roof of the house, it was night and the beautiful full moon was out on display. It was at times like these that The Great One of Blades just wanted to sit down and think._

 _Kiritsugu's death had taken quite an emotion toll on Shirou. Everybody noticed it, but they kept quiet. All in all, this was the first time Shirou had ever truly felt depressed ever since he became a Great One, and he had no clue what to do about it. Most of the time he just wanted to brood in solitude._

" _I figured I'd find you here," Shirou turned his head as he heard a familiar voice._

 _It was Sakura, she wore some dark gray pajamas and was carrying two cups of hot chocolate. She handed one of the cups to Shirou._

" _Thank you, Sakura," Shirou said as he took a sip._

" _No problem, Shirou," Sakura said cheerfully._

 _Sakura had always been quite clingy when it came to Shirou. He didn't mind it at all, they spent most of their time together anyway. He always thought she was adorable whenever she got embarrassed._

" _Got something on your mind, Shirou?" she asked._

 _He didn't answer for a few seconds. "Yeah,"_

" _Do you want to talk about it?"_

 _Shirou sighed, but he nodded, it was about time he talked to_ _ **someone**_ _about it._

" _Did I ever tell you about my Hunt before?" Shirou asked._

 _Sakura shook her head. "You didn't tell me much about it."_

 _Shirou took a deep breath. "I never had a choice in whether or not I wanted to be a Hunter. The fire that happened eight years ago in the city took my family, and my memories, the only thing I remembered was my name. Just as I was about to die, Flora dragged my mind away from my body, and forced me into the Hunter's Dream."_

" _Flora?" Sakura was confused by the name, Shirou had never mentioned this person before._

" _Ah, Flora is another Great One," Shirou scratched his head. "I should've let you read the journal. Anyway, I met Gehrman in Flora's Dream, but despite all of the Hunter training he provided me with I never really knew what being a Hunter meant," Shirou gave an empty chuckle and looked up at the moon with hollow eyes. "Take a wild guess at what I thought what being a Hunter meant,"_

 _Sakura thought about it for a few minutes, but in the end, she couldn't really come up with anything._

" _I can't really think of anything," she admitted sadly as she looked down into her cup of hot chocolate._

" _Well, you're going to get a kick out of this," Shirou said as Sakura took a sip from her cup. "I thought it meant being a hero."_

" _PFFFFFFFF!"_

 _Shirou gave the spit-taking Sakura an amused look._

 _Sakura slowly turned to Shirou, eyes wide in disbelief. She knew very well Shirou's outlook on heroes was...rather negative to say the least._

" _Yeah, I expected that kind of reaction." Shirou gave her a wry smile. "Wanting to be a hero, that was my drive that kept me going through the Hunt, I wanted to save people from the beasts, I wanted to be like my the person I looked up to at the time, Ludwig, The Holy Blade."_

 _Sakura noted Shirou's small smile at the name before it turned into a deep frown._

" _Wanting to be a hero was the biggest mistake of my life," Shirou admitted. "I gave it everything I had, but even with the few people I saved, they too went insane, and in the end, I had to put them down."_

 _His long, red and black hair shadowed his eyes. "Through the pain,"_

 _Shirou recalled all of his deaths, each one etched into his mind._

" _The insanity,"_

 _Shirou recalled the Lonely Old Woman and the Narrow-Minded Man._

" _The betrayals,"_

 _Shirou recalled Adella the Nun, the Beggar, the imposter Iosefka, and Alfred._

" _...The truth,"_

 _In Shirou's mind he thought back to when he killed the Orphan of Kos, he fell to his knees before the Great One and her now murdered child, filled with despair he laughed and cried like a madman._

" _When I found the truth it broke me," Shirou held the Old Hunter Badge in his hand, the moonlight reflecting poorly on it's rusted surface. "After that, all I had left was the Hunt, and you've the end result of that."_

 _It was true, Sakura had seen what Shirou's true form had looked like. Thankfully Shirou eased her into most of the insight she got so when she first saw what the Great One of Blades looked like she was just_ _ **extremely**_ _unnerved instead of falling into insanity as most would._

 _Sakura nodded, she knew that even if he didn't show it, Shirou wasn't very proud of being a Great One. To Shirou, being a Great One was just another reminder of the place that broke him, but he knew that whining and bitching about it wouldn't solve anything, so he took it in stride like nearly everything else._

" _The most ironic thing about being a Great One is that we tend to be sympathetic to those weaker than us. I myself am no different," Shirou took a sip of his hot chocolate. "But I know better than to try and help people. I don't help people, I kill them."_

" _You helped me," Sakura interjected._

" _No, I didn't," Shirou said, looking down into his cup. "I just dragged you into another Hell,"_

 _Sakura stayed quiet after that, not really knowing what to say. If what Shirou had told her about the Hunters before was toned down, he really did._

 _Shirou sighed. "Then, one day, I met dad, when we first met he said that I had saved him. At that moment I realized I had finally done what I had first set out to do, I_ _ **saved**_ _someone. I felt_ _ **nothing**_ _. Nothing at all, I was still just as empty on the inside as I had been when I was human. But when he died, when the first and only person I saved died, I still felt nothing. Maybe it's because I'm a Great One, or I'm just too used to people dying. I don't really know but it's still frustrating."_

 _Sakura reached out her hand towards Shirou who wasn't paying attention but hesitated._

 **BGM: Fate/Zero OST - Grief**

" _Everything I did, I did so for my ideals, and they're gone." Shirou took in a shaky breath. "T-They're all gone. Alfred, Simon, Eileen...Grandpa Gehrman, and even Kiritsugu, all gone, but I'm still here."_

 _Shirou looked up at the moon. "My Hunt has been over for a long time, I wonder what they'd think of me now?"_

 _Without warning, Sakura hugged him from behind. Shirou's eyes widened at the sudden contact, but other than that he didn't react._

" _Well, I wouldn't know about them," Sakura said as she buried her face in his long hair. "But I think you're pretty great."_

 _Sakura felt Shirou being to tremble in her arms. She held onto him tighter, she didn't need to see his face to know what was happening._

 _For the first time since Shirou had ascended humanity, he shed tears. He continued to stare at the moon, his gaze unwavering, even as seemingly never-ending tears fell from his eyes._

 _For the first time, the Great One of Blades felt true sorrow._

* * *

Shirou looked at his hands in disappointment.

"All the power in the world at my fingertips, and I can't even bring one man back from the dead. Some god I am," he gave a small chuckle. "I bet if I could bring from the dead, you'd chew me out for messing with the laws of life and death then proceed to make one of your spaghetti monsters."

He stared at the grave, tears falling from his eyes.

"I...I miss you, dad."

* * *

Night had rolled over Fuyuki City, yet a particular woman sat on a bench watching the other people leave.

She was a woman of unparalleled beauty, one could call her perfect. Her long, blonde hair almost seemed to be made of gold. Her eyes were red like rubies. Her curvaceous body and impressive bust would make supermodels green with envy. She wore a black jacket over her white button-up shirt along with a pair of black shorts.

It was years since she had been reincarnated as a human being since the Fourth Holy Grail War.

She sighed as she gazed at the city filled with her subjects and scowled.

This world no longer held the beauty that made it worthy of being called her's.

It was like a rotten apple, decayed over time. The inhabitants had become so weak, so complacent, so...worthless. Truly, it was sickening.

She had half the mind to toss away this world like the filth it was. But she had some hope for this era.

It was that odd boy that visited the church every once in a while, Shirou Emiya. He had been the subject of her interest for the past few years. He exuded confidence, pride, strength and power in spades, but also much sorrow as if he had experienced the world's harshest trials.

The two never did talk, but sometimes she was there to hear his, usually, onesided ramblings with Kirei. It was amusing to see how the two could get under each other's skin so easily.

The average person might say Shirou Emiya was quite the enigma. Split personality, dark sense of humor, and had a talent for messing with people. If one were to ask the woman, it was like the boy was an open book.

Most people would believe that either the "Child" or the "Hunter" was a coping mechanism for whatever happened to him. A mask if you will.

But she was no fool.

There was no mask. Both personalities were just as real. Like two people living in the same body. It made him all the more interesting. Yet even if he wore his heart on his sleeve, the woman never did understand why Shirou was so complacent when he could easily have taken a place in the Throne of Heroes.

The woman smirked as she felt a familiar presence nearby.

She watched as the object of her interest walk down the cobblestone path.

Shirou Emiya was no older than thirteen, yet his now blood red eyes held experience far beyond his apparent age. His long, black hair had a few red streaks. His hands were in the pockets of his black coat as he walked.

The blonde woman got up from the bench and stood in his path, her arms crossed.

"Hello, boy," she greeted him.

Shirou gave a small smile. "Hello to you too, miss."

His eyes stared right back at her, a gaze of recognition. Not just because he had seen her before, but because he _knew_ what she was. His gaze didn't flinch, not a trace of fear. No attempt to break eye contact. Didn't even wilt under her gaze.

Impressive for one as young as him.

Neither one said anything as they stared at each other.

She grinned. "You know who I am, boy?"

Shirou shook his head. "Sorry to say, I don't know _who_ you are, but I do know _what_ you are."

"Oh~?" she purred, her eyebrows raised in amusement. "And just what am I, boy?"

"Hm, royalty I'd say. A queen…? No, your aura is beyond even _her_. You're a king, one not from this era." he finished resolutely.

Ah, as expected of the one who held her interest for years. Truly, he was a remarkable gem in this rotten era.

She stared into his eyes. "Shirou Emiya," she addressed him by name. "You have eyes that hold experiences far beyond your years. Like the eyes of a warrior. Your king wishes to test your might."

Shirou blink then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"My, my, my, a challenge from a king. I'm flattered," with a swift movement, he cut deeply into his wrist and made a sword out of his own blood. "I'd be honored to accept this challenge, but may I know your name first?"

The blonde woman smiled proudly. "Very well, boy. I am known a Gilgamesh, the King of Urk, the proud daughter of Lugalbanda and Ninsun. And the most prominent King amongst kings. I am the slayer of Humbaba the Terrible, the monstrous giant whom the gods feared. I was the one who slew the Bull of Heaven when the petulant goddess, Ishtar, unleashed it upon my people for my rejection of her advances. I am the woman who discovered the secret of eternal youth. And the first worthy human to enter the Throne of Heroes, and none that comes after me could even hope to outshine my glory."

Shirou gave a low whistle. "Quite the reputation, hopefully, I can live up to your expectations."

As the words left his mouth, golden portals appeared behind Gilgamesh. She let loose five Noble Phantasms to test the waters with Shirou. If he couldn't survive this, then her interest was incredibly misplaced.

Easily, as if he saw them in them in slow motion, he deflected all of the Noble Phantasms. With just a blade made out of his own blood no less!

Let's see how he handle more.

Ten, twenty, thirty. He was still standing, not even a scratch much less a hair out of place.

As she would expect of the single gem this era has produced! Marvelous!

Now let's see how he handles one of her more powerful treasures. Gram: Dawn of Ruin, an A ranked Noble Phantasm, would do nicely.

The Noble Phantasm was sent hurling towards Shirou faster than the human eye could see.

"By blood let blood be cleansed."

 _Clang!_

Her eyes widened. Shirou was able to deflect the blade as he did all the others, but it was what he used that surprised her. In his hands was Gram, sure, it made out of his own blood, but it was _Gram_.

Every single detail, from the hilt to the tip of the blade was captured. She would've considered this act an insult beyond measure if it weren't for the fact that the blade itself _matched_ her Gram in power. From every last detail to the power in the blade itself, he held the genuine article in his hands.

Her eyes narrowed at Shirou. "Boy, how did you do that?"

Shirou smirked and balanced the tip of the blade on his finger. "This old trick? Well, it first started out when my teacher taught me a magecraft called Tracing. Tracing, in a nutshell, allows me to copy anything I see. But when it comes to Noble Phantasms, whatever I Trace goes down an entire rank."

"Then you're a Faker," she stated, frowning.

She crossed her arms and shook her head. To think, that the object of her interest would be so...disapointing.

"A Faker...?" Shirou repeated.

He laughed loudly as if it were the most hilarious thing he'd heard in a long while. His face was neutral but his voice now held a fury beyond even the most ferocious of Phantasmal Beast. Blades made of blood erupted from the ground as if responding to his rage.

"Please understand, Gilgamesh, Tracing is but one half of what was used to make this blade. When I was first taught Tracing, I found it...inadequate. I am a proud Hunter of Yharnam, and the last of the Hunters,"

He gripped the Old Hunter Badge around his neck with his free hand.

"To use such subpar weaponry would be an _insult_ to myself and to the legacy of the Hunters. Even after everything I've been through, I have my pride dammit!"

Shirou took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Blood Forging is a type of magecraft I created on my own. It allows me complete manipulation of my own blood. When used in tandem with Tracing, I can _create_ weapons that _match_ the power of Noble Phantasms. Hell, I can take it a step further too, I can _improve_ weapons I create and have them surpass what they're based on."

The silence and tension between the two was almost suffocating.

"Hmph, then my apologies, boy," she said as she crossed her arms. "It seems I have grown quick to judge over the years."

What this boy made was truly an impressive ability. To take inspiration from her treasures and use his own blood to match them, _Improve_ them. Not a Faker, but a Creator.

Once again this boy had subverted her expectations.

"A reward is in order,"

 **BGM: Bayonetta OST - Blood and Darkness**

Countless golden portals opened up behind her. The tips of her treasures aimed at Shirou, ready to end him at her command.

Her grin was almost malicious. "Are you ready to get serious, boy?"

Shirou's grin was downright bloodthirsty. "Show me a good time, king!"

The Good Hunter charged Gilgamesh, countless Noble Phantasms rained down on him like a downpour of rain. A hurricane of death inching ever closer.

He met them with their equals made of his own design. If he could not match them in time, he dodged. If he could not dodge, he turned into a cloud of mist and ash.

Firearms, cannons, explosives were all used by him. What surprised her the most was that he used weapons that not even her Gate of Babylon contained, such as that sword and scythe hybrid which contained untold power and that large glowing sword which matched - no! _Surpassed_ the brilliance of Excalibur.

Not one movement was wasted. Not a single Noble Phantasm slowed down or interrupted his beautiful dance of death that continuously made its way towards her.

A colossal blade not meant to be wielded by humans was sent hurtling at Shirou. The Great One jumped and ran across the sword, jumping off as he reached the hilt.

While in the air Shirou made his own version of the colossal blade. It spun like a drill in the air as time accelerated and lighting crackled around it. Prana was being sent to the blade at such an astonishing rate that it was ridiculous.

One of Shirou's arm changed. Blades jutted out, muscle was exposed, a few otherworldly tendrils here and there. Red, inhuman, eyes littered the transformed arm. His fingers changed into bladed claws.

With the arm, Shirou punched the colossal blade with everything he had.

The improvised projectile of death was faster than Gilgamesh could have possibly imagined. Any Noble Phantasm that got in its way bounced off. None of them so much as changed its trajectory in the slightest.

Quickly, the King of Heroes opened the gate in front of her and brought out countless Noble Phantasm shields. She was not risking it with this seemingly unstoppable force of death.

Layers upon layers of shields were put up right in front of her, the weakest at the front, the strongest at the back.

Almost on contact, half the shields were turned into shrapnel. The colossal blade only slowed down by the strongest of shields the gate had to offer. Fortunately, the blade did stop once it reached the last few layers.

Gilgamesh let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding.

On the other side, Shirou punched the blade once again with his transformed arm. On contact, he pushed enough prana into it to make it a Broken Phantasm. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to blast a sizable hole in the last few layers of shields, making Gilgamesh cover her face with her arms.

Shirou jumped through the hole, his arm changed into a large, grotesque, blade.

Just as he was about to decapitate her, he was hit with a well-timed Warhammer that launched right into his abdomen. Shirou was sent flying _through_ many trees.

"Ah! Goddamn! That hurt like a bitch!" Shirou cursed as Avalon fixed his body.

Golden portals surrounded Shirou, like a dome almost.

Shirou stared at Gilgamesh through the gaps of the "dome". The King of Heroes met his stare with one of her own.

He sighed as weapons poked out of the portals. "Work me to the bone why don't you?"

What could only be described as a bolt of red lightning struck Shirou within the "dome" and in an instant, he was in the same monstrous form he was in when he fought Altrouge all those years ago. Gaia still doing her damnedest to reject his existence as glitches appeared all around his body.

Shirou tensed, Noble Phantasms were launched, and all hell broke loose.

Shirou did his damnedest to keep up with the onslaught of legendary weapons. Firearms, Blood Forging, Quicking, hell even some Arcane was used.

As the portals disappeared, blood flowed from Shirou body. Noble Phantasms pierced him all over like some kind of pin cushion.

Shirou's mass of glowing red eye meet Gilgamesh's stare. Both gazes refusing to falter.

The Noble Phantasms impaled in Shirou began to return to the Gate of Babylon.

"Hmmm, yes, I understand you now." Gilgamesh began. "Yes, you too once walked that path that I laid out as the first worthy enough to enter the Throne of Heroes. But you stopped. Gave up. Why? A person with skills such as yours could've easily made a name for themselves in this rotten era."

If possible, the disturbing jack-o'-lantern on Shirou's face grew wider.

He sighed nostalgically. " **Ah, that question takes me back,"** he said, the new form his body took giving him a demonic voice. " **Heh, you're probably right, I** _ **could**_ **do that, but let's just say the place I grew up wasn't the** _ **brightest**_ **in the world. I did try to be a hero, but I had no clue what that truly meant. My ideal of a hero wasn't even my own. I was following the footsteps of a damned man. But even when my ideals crumbled before me, I carved my own path. A** _ **Killer**_ **, not a Warrior. A** _ **Creator**_ **, not a Faker. I am a** _ **Hunter**_ **, not a Hero."**

Gilgamesh blinked at Shirou's answer. She threw her head back laughing in earnest.

"How vexing, I never expected that sort of answer. A Hunter, a Killer, and a Creator. To find your _own_ path instead of following another's. To reject an easy offer into the Throne of Heroes. Heh, to reject the Throne of Heroes itself! Marvelous! Only the finest of weapons at disposal can give you a _worthy_ death. Take pride in knowing this, Shirou Emiya. I, Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, acknowledge your resolve!"

" **So, you still want to keep going with this?"**

"Of course," she announced grinning widely. "Do you expect your king to be satisfied with just this?"

" **Yes, yes, I do. I know Dead Apostle Ancestors with less bloodlust than you!"** Shirou bellowed.

It was an exaggeration, but right now, he was getting tired of getting Noble Phantasm thrown at him every nanosecond.

"Hmph," Gilgamesh shook her head in amusement. "Either way, I have deemed you worthy enough to witness my _greatest_ treasure."

" **Bringing out the big guns at long last, eh? I'd feel bad if I didn't respond in kind."**

 _ **I am the blade of slaughter.**_

 _ **Cursed is my blood, and dark is my heart.**_

 _ **I have ended countless lives**_

 _ **No longer will I be constrained by mortal limitations.**_

 _ **Nor will I falter should my body turn to something blasphemous.**_

 _ **Always alone atop a hill of corpses.**_

 _ **Thus my hunt will never end.**_

 _ **So as I pray.**_

 _ **Under a Paleblood Moon.**_

With a burst of black and green illusionary flames, Shirou transported them into his Dream.

Gilgamesh looked upon this new world in wonder.

The blood red moon, the snow that fell from the cloudless sky, the endless field of glowing white flowers and endless blades.

To the King of Heroes, this world was beautiful. A far cry from the rotten apple her's had become.

" **Prepare yourself!"**

Gilgamesh didn't try to look for the source of the voice. It came from everywhere, absolutely no discernable point.

In front of the red moon seemed to be encased in black mist as _something_ came through it.

* * *

 _Gilgamesh and Kirei Kotomine gazed at the burning city._

 _The priest had been overjoyed when he found his purpose in life._

 _But just as they were about to leave when an overwhelming power permeated the area._

 _Almost half a mile away, an arm erupted from the mud of the Holy Grail. It was massive, it seemed to be made of sharp metal, black in color, they were arranged into what could only be described as segmented scales, connected to each other with red, bleeding flesh._

 _Whatever the thing was pulled itself out quickly, causing an eruption of mud, flame, and debris._

 _It was made of Blades._

 _It looked like a black dragon, but she knew right away that it was so much more than a simple Phantasmal Beast._

 _Red eyes were littered all over its body, but the ones on its head drew her attention. They could hardly be called eyes, more like warped lightning bolts that_ _ **brimmed**_ _with power._

 _Its mere presence was enough to make the Bull of Heaven seem like a whimpering calve._

 _it looked up to the moon...and it roared._

 _ **"RRROOOOAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"**_

 _It was a deafening and horrid sound. Inhuman, and yet all too human._

 _Giant blades erupted from the ground near the monster._

 _As soon as the monster appeared, it vanished. In a cloud of black smoke and red embers, disappeared as if it was never there to begin with._

 _Gilgamesh looked at where the creature was with an awed expression. "Magnificent. It seems this era is more worthwhile than I expected."_

" _I-Is the Grail even capable of creating such a being?" Kirei asked in shock._

" _No," Gilgamesh stated. "Something else had a hand in it's origin. But the more pressing question here is how do I make it_ _ **mine**_ _?"_

* * *

 **BGM: Fate/Zero OST - This Day And Never Again**

Gilgamesh stared at Shirou's true form floating in the sky.

His wings were fully stretched, they could block out the moon itself if they were whole. His many red, glowing eyes, trained on her.

Its mouth opened.

" **Behold, this blasphemous form that which the world itself rejects! I am Shirou Emiya, the Great One of Blades!"**

Her eyes widened and she laughed joyously. "Magnificent! Never have I beheld such an existence! Your king thanks you, for you have given her an experience worthy of being immortalized in song!"

A golden portal opened near her feet.

"Come, a stage worthy of your brilliance has shown itself!"

The Sword of Rupture, Ea, came from the portal and into her waiting hands.

" **This is the end. If you don't hit me with everything you have, you will die."**

Shirou shot down from the skies like an eldritch missile.

Gilgamesh knew nothing in her treasury aside from the Sword of Rupture could match him at this point.

She pointed the drill-like blade skywards, the three cylinders spinning wildly as red, cosmic winds gathered around it.

"Enuma Elish!"

She shouted as the miracle of Genesis, in all its destructive glory, was sent hurtling towards Shirou.

The two forces made contact with each other, and Shirou pierced through the "Truth". Blades, muscle, even entire limbs were destroyed as he pushed himself through the cosmic winds.

"Astonishing!" Gilgamesh exclaimed as Shirou pushed himself.

Soon enough, Shirou made his way to her and finally came in physical contact with Ea.

Ea attacked the Great One of Blades in the Dream with the "Truth" but in the Dream, there were no lies as Shirou is this world's "Truth". Both "Truths" trying to reveal each other. A "Truth" try to reveal the "Truth" of something that is already "True".

A paradox.

It was like dividing by zero.

A light brighter than any star sparked between the two colliding forces.

 _Boom!_

* * *

 **Later that night.**

Aoko blinked as she looked at Shirou.

He wasn't his usual smiling self, he seemed really tired. Didn't even have the energy to smile as he made dinner like he usually would.

"Are you alright, Shirou?" she asked.

He nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."

He took a sip of the miso soup, it needed more spice. The stirfry was almost done.

"Today has just been a _crazy_ day."

She smiled softly as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

 _Bang!_

The door to the estate slammed loudly as Gilgamesh walked in.

"Shirou Emiya, take pride in yourself, for your king has deemed you worthy enough to become one of her treasures!" she proclaimed.

All was silent for a few seconds.

Shirou gave her a bland look. "Alright, that's great and all, but if you're staying here for the night, sit your pretty ass down. It's dinner time, and it's movie night, we're watching Die Hard."

Gilgamesh nodded. "Acceptable."

The King of Heroes then went to sit down at the table in the living room, much to the surprise of Zelretch, Sakura, and Altrouge.

"So..." Aoko trailed off.

Shirou sighed. "Yes, that was my crazy day."

 **Chapter End**


End file.
